Hainan hopes port will boost prosperity

Hainan will strive to make good use of its free trade port policies and unique geographical advantages to better integrate itself into China's new development paradigm and make Hainan the forefront for the nation's deep integration with the global economy, said Shen Xiaoming, secretary of the Communist Party of China Hainan Provincial Committee.

Building the Hainan FTP, a major national strategy personally planned, deployed and promoted by President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, is of great significance in perfecting and developing the socialist system with Chinese characteristics and building a community with a shared future for mankind, he said.

Shen said the Hainan FTP will have unique advantages in terms of its system, policies and location as it looks to integrate itself into the country's new development paradigm of domestic and international economic circulation, or "dual circulation".

At the institutional level, Hainan will launch a new customs clearance operation on the entire island by 2025, adopting an import and export management system featuring free flow between the "first line", which links the overseas market to the island, and the "second line" that connects the island to the huge domestic market, with efficient controls.

In terms of policy, Hainan will highlight trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, and implement special opening-up policies regarding taxation and the free flow of cross-border investments, talent and materials.

Geographically, the Hainan FTP－the node connecting China and Southeast Asia, the two most dynamic economic regions in the world－is in a good position to become one of the nation's convergence points for the domestic and global economies.

Shen said that for the time being the novel coronavirus pandemic is still affecting the flow of people, logistics and capital across borders, but the island province will make good use of its FTP policies and unique geographical advantages to transfer high-end overseas commodity consumption as well as spending on medical services and education to Hainan, thus boosting dual circulation.

"In the long run, Hainan will firmly adhere to the opening-up policy, accelerate the establishment of a new open economic system, and become a new highland of China's open economy," he said.

He noted that to ensure high-quality development of the Hainan FTP during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25), the island province will firmly grasp the correct political orientation, follow the CPC's leadership, promote socialism with Chinese characteristics, adhere to the people-centered development concept and stick to China's socialist core values and the new development concept.

Hainan will also promote the steady, effective implementation of its FTP policies with a "pioneering" spirit through scientific methodology. It will free minds and make bold, proactive steps in terms of institutional integration innovation, Shen said.

He said a modern industrial structure that highlights tourism, modern services and the high-tech industry, and a highly efficient tropical agriculture will be established, with offseason seed-breeding, deep-sea exploration and the aerospace sector to be cultivated as pillar industries in Hainan.

The province will build up its core competitive power, implementing policies that guarantee trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, and offering world-class ecological and business environments to ensure more global stakeholders can share the development opportunities of its FTP, according to Shen.

"We attach great importance to construction starting smoothly, promoting policy implementation and ensuring timely achievements," he said. "We should also work long and hard to speed up the establishment of a policy and institutional framework suitable for a high-level free trade port and to build a forefront for China's deep integration into the global economic system.

Hainan will build a high-level National Ecological Civilization Pilot Zone and landmark projects such as the Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park. It will also promote clean energy vehicles, its comprehensive plastic ban and prefabricated construction to ensure that the FTP will have a leading ecological environment in place by 2035, according to the Party chief.

He said a regular research and evaluation mechanism has been set up to help optimize business services and "let the market players have the final say", to make sure that companies "have workers to hire, have business to do and have money to earn".

He noted Hainan will continue to develop ways to improve people's livelihoods to ensure that they have good schools, medical services, jobs and houses and that the dividends of the free trade port development will be more beneficial.

He also stressed that Hainan will do a good job in mitigating major risks to ensure the smooth, stable and far-reaching operation of the FTP.

During the 13th Five-Year period (2015-20), Hainan resolutely implemented the major decisions and arrangements made by the CPC Central Committee and President Xi Jinping, and it has made satisfactory progress as a result, according to Shen.

For example, the construction of the port is booming, with key policies being implemented one after another, and the Hainan free trade port law will be unveiled soon. In addition, the number of new enterprises, the amount of foreign capital actually utilized, the number of talent introduced and the sales of offshore duty-free goods have all doubled.

Moreover, the quality of local economic development has improved significantly, with the traditionally real estate-dependent economy now focusing more on the growth of consumption and investment. Also during the plan period, solid efforts were made to promote the construction of the National Ecological Civilization Pilot Zone, and the annual average concentration of PM2.5 particles dropped to 13 micrograms per cubic meter.

Meanwhile, people's sense of gain has been growing daily, Shen said. Remarkable achievements have been made in poverty alleviation, with 649,700 people from 152,100 households having shaken off poverty in the past five years. Moreover, quality education and medical resources have been introduced to help improve people's well-being.