Opening-up, cooperation top priority for island

Both the opening-up process and international cooperation are a priorities for Pingtan's development, according to officials from the region, which is also a comprehensive pilot zone.

The State Council, China's cabinet, had paid a great deal of attention to the opening-up and development of Pingtan and the province of Fujian also greatly supported that, the Fujian Daily newspaper reported.

The State Council approved the overall development plan of the Pingtan Comprehensive Pilot Zone in November 2011 and the region's opening-up and development became a national strategy.

The Pingtan Area of China (Fujian) Pilot Free Trade Zone was set up in 2015 and in August 2016, the State Council approved a construction plan for building Pingtan into an international tourist island.

This year, in March, the Fujian government released a document saying it was necessary to continue to help Pingtan realize the fruits of its opening-up process and its development.

As an island, Pingtan is surrounded by sea and before the Pingtan Strait Bridge was built, people could visit only by ship. Now, a coach trip starting from the bridge in Fuzhou, capital city of Fujian, takes less than two hours.

Weng Xiong, a local driver in Pingtan, has driven on the road connecting Fuzhou and Pingtan for 23 years. "The bridge spanning the sea benefits everyone in Pingtan and helps Pingtan's development," Weng said.

He was employed as a driver by the Pingtan branch of Fujian Automobile Transport Co in 1995. He said one thing that impressed him was that Pingtan held a sand sculpture festival in 2007, which saw a surge in visitors. Poor transportation conditions can act as a brake to tourism development, he added.

At that time, Weng drove a coach with 32 passengers from Fuzhou to Pingtan and at 11 am it reached Sanshan town in Fuqing city and he had to stop.

"The line of vehicles that waited to go to the island (Pingtan) extended more than 10 kilometers and I drove onto ferry after 6 pm from the Xiaoshandong dock in Fuqing," he recalled.

All his 32 passengers were unable to wait that long and left that afternoon, Weng said.

The bridge began construction in November of 2007, with the total investment worth more than 1.1 billion yuan ($159.7 million), and opened to traffic three years later, becoming the first cross-sea bridge in Fujian.

In February 2010, the Pingtan Comprehensive Pilot Zone was officially set up and since then, the region's opening-up and development have accelerated. Its transportation infrastructure construction has also advanced greatly and construction of a cross-sea highway-railway bridge has been expedited.

Weng said he expected the rail bridge, which began construction in November 2013, will be completed in late October 2019.

"Pingtan's transportation is now so convenient, and I dared not imagine that. I bought a car recently and for my leisure I take a drive with my family," Weng said.

Pingtan has become a window to the outside world, local officials said. The Pingtan Area of China (Fujian) Pilot Free Trade Zone has taken 140 innovation measures to boost investment, trade, finance and personnel exchanges.

Pingtan hosted the first China-Island Countries Ocean-related Ministerial Roundtable in September last year and signed six international industry cooperation projects with a total investment of more than $1.18 billion. It has started a rail-sea combined transportation service connecting Taiwan and Pingtan with Europe and opened two air routes to Hong Kong.

Recently, an implementation plan for furthering the reform and opening-up of the Pingtan Area of China (Fujian) Pilot Free Trade Zone was released.

It also involves new arrangements for expanding cross-Straits economic and cultural communications and cooperation. According to the plan, Pingtan will further benchmark against international rules to establish a new system for opening up the economy and improving the government's administration. It will also use its geographic advantage of being near Taiwan and deepen industry cooperation with Taiwan, as well as countries and regions involved in the Belt and Road Initiative.