Here I solemnly announce that the Communist Party of China Central Committee has decided to support Hainan in developing the whole island into a pilot free trade zone, and gradually exploring and steadily promoting the establishment of a free trade port with Chinese characteristics.
It is a major decision that involves in-depth research and overall planning by the CPC Central Committee, and it underlines China’s commitment to expanding opening-up and promoting economic globalization, Xi said.
China welcomes investors worldwide to invest and start businesses in Hainan and participate in the building of a free trade port, thus sharing the country’s development opportunities and outcomes of its reform, Xi said.
Hainan should focus on tourism, modern services, and high-tech sectors instead of intermediary trade and manufacturing.
Hainan should conduct multi-level and multi-field cooperation with countries and regions along the Belt and Road and facilitate exchanges in culture, education, agriculture, and tourism.
Reform will be advanced from a higher starting point in Hainan. Increased efforts should be made to remove the disadvantages of the existing system and mechanism.
Urban and rural integration should be accelerated and the reforms of talent, fiscal, tax, financial, and income distribution mechanisms, as well as state-owned enterprises should be deepened to form a more mature and complete system in Hainan.
The central government will support Hainan in establishing trading venues for global energy, shipping, commodities, property, equity, and carbon emission rights.
Hainan should resolutely implement the new development concept to build a modernized economy and come to the forefront of promoting high-quality economic development.
The island should develop new-generation information technology and the digital economy and integrate the latest technologies like big data, internet and artificial intelligence with the real economy.
Modern services including medical care and finance should be a major pillar of Hainan’s economy, especially tourism.
China plans to make the offshore duty-free shopping policy in Hainan to cover all outbound tourists.
Hainan should make full use of its unique resources to develop tropical agriculture.
China also aims to make the province home to the country’s bases for tropical agricultural science and industry.
The CPC Central Committee has decided to support the province to build a national ecological development pilot zone, with the strictest ecological and environmental protection mechanism.
Hainan will be a pioneer in establishing a modern system for supervising ecological environment and resource conservation and will undertake the piloting of the national park system, building national parks that will include tropical rainforest.
The country encourages key universities and research institutes at home to set up branches in Hainan, and encourages Hainan to introduce high-quality education resources from abroad.
Technical personnel and those with professional skills from foreign countries as well as those from Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan, will be allowed to work and apply for permanent residence permits in Hainan.
Overseas students with master’s degrees or above from Chinese universities will be allowed to work or start businesses in Hainan.
China will support the province to establish management systems for recruitment of high-tech personnel from overseas and develop a more open mechanism in this regard.
