With nearly one month before Hainan, China’s southern island province, launches a separate customs regime, President Xi Jinping has urged officials to ensure the process goes smoothly so the region can spearhead the country’s opening up.
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“The strategic goal of building the Hainan Free Trade Port is to establish it as a significant gateway leading China’s opening up in the new era,” Xi said on Thursday in Sanya, a city in southern Hainan, during his tour of the tropical island.
“This is an exemplary move that demonstrates China’s unwavering commitment to high-standard opening up and to promoting an open global economy,” he added, according to a report by state news agency Xinhua.
China is taking steps to establish a province-wide free-trade zone known as the Hainan Free Trade Port on the island, as Beijing aims to turn it into a centre for offshore financing and duty-free shopping that can lure tourists and businesses.
It has already begun to offer a preferential tax regime and relaxed visa policies as part of this campaign, and will officially begin operating a separate customs regime from December 18.
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With Hainan also able to place lower tariffs on imports than the rest of China, the island is seen as key to Beijing’s “dual circulation” economic strategy and a potential buffer zone amid the ongoing US-China trade war.