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China’s Xi Jinping says Hainan free-trade zone will spearhead ‘new era’ of opening up

The island province will launch a separate customs regime in December, with the president urging officials to ensure a smooth transition

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People shop at a duty-free mall in Haikou, China’s southern Hainan province. Beijing aims to turn the island province into a free-trade port. Photo: Xinhua
Ji Siqiin Beijing

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.

“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.

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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.
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