BEIJING, Nov. 9, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday stressed adopting high standards for building the Hainan Free Trade Port (FTP), the Xinhua News Agency reported.
Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks when hearing a work report in Sanya, south China’s island province of Hainan, on the building of the Hainan FTP.
Building the Hainan FTP is a major policy made by the CPC Central Committee to comprehensively deepen reform and opening up in the new era, Xi said.
He stressed that earnestly studying and implementing the guiding principles of the fourth plenary session of the 20th CPC Central Committee, and called for achieving the targets of the Hainan FTP development in all respects via close coordination, proactive actions and sustained efforts, Xinhua reported.
The Hainan FTP will officially launch island-wide special customs operations on December 18 this year, which Xi said is a landmark move of China to unwaveringly expand high-standard opening up and promote the development of an open world economy.
High-standard opening up
According to Xinhua, Xi urged efforts to steadily expand institutional opening up, further advance trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, and better facilitate the cross-border flow of production factors.
He also stressed the need to develop talent mechanisms that are more open, advance administrative system reform, and foster a first-class, market-oriented, law-based, and internationalized business environment.
The determination to adopt high standards for building the Hainan Free Trade Port sends multiple important signals, Chinese experts said.
“This move not only demonstrates the country’s strong commitment to developing the Hainan FTP, underscoring its strategic importance in the nation’s development in the new era, but also reflects that high standards are both a concrete requirement for Hainan’s growth and a key step in advancing the overall national plan for deeper reform and opening-up,” Liang Haiming, dean of the Hainan University Belt and Road Research Institute, told the Global Times on Thursday.
As the Hainan FTP prepares to officially launch island-wide special customs operations in mid-December, emphasizing full-island independent customs operations, Liang said this milestone indicates that Hainan will achieve higher levels of openness and institutional innovation.
Through a series of policy and institutional innovations, the development of Hainan FTP will provide valuable experience nationwide and serve as a flagship project for China’s high-level opening-up, said Liang.
The Hainan FTP has made significant progress in establishing policies and institutions, advancing modern industrial systems, fostering an export-oriented economy, and improving the business environment.
In the past five years, the actual utilization of foreign capital in Hainan reached 102.5 billion yuan ($14.35 billion), with an average annual growth rate of 14.6 percent. A total of 8,098 new foreign-funded enterprises were established at an average annual growth rate of 43.7 percent, and 176 countries and regions invested in Hainan during this period, according to the latest data released at a press conference held by the State Council Information Office on Hainan FTP development on July 23.
The island’s visa-free policy is the most favorable in the country, allowing entry from 85 countries without a visa, the official data shows. Meanwhile, its offshore duty-free sales have grown rapidly, accounting for over 8 percent of the global duty-free market.
As an important hub of openness in China, Hainan has made progress in promoting the deep integration of industrial innovation and striving to develop new quality productive forces, which further highlights the country’s emphasis on institutional and integrated innovation while advancing high-level opening-up, Yu Tao, director of Research Center for Public Diplomacy and Hainan Openness at National Institute for South China Sea Studies, told the Global Times on Thursday.
Amid a complex international environment marked by rising protectionism and unilateralism, the development of Hainan FTP demonstrates China’s resolute commitment to expanding high-level opening-up, particularly in promoting an open global economy that promotes economic globalization and upholds multilateralism, said Yu, indicating bright prospects for the island’s FTP.
Forging a new devt paradigm
Building the Hainan FTP with high standards is aimed at advancing high-quality development of Hainan and contributing to forging a new development paradigm nationwide, Xi said, according to Xinhua.
Hainan should focus closely on its strategic positioning as a pilot zone for the comprehensive deepening of reform and opening up, a national pilot zone for ecological conservation, an international tourism and consumption destination and a service zone for major national strategies, thereby comprehensively boosting the province’s economic and social development, he said.
Efforts should be made to develop a modernized industrial system that leverages Hainan’s advantages and strengths, promote the upgrading of leading industries, and advance the deep integration of technological and industrial innovation to achieve breakthroughs in developing new quality productive forces, Xi said.
Hainan should play a leading role in advancing high-standard opening up through strengthening coordinated development with the neighboring Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, deepening inter-regional cooperation with the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region, the Yangtze River Delta and the Yangtze Economic Belt, and deeply integrating into the Belt and Road cooperation, he added.
The 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-30) marks the first five years for Hainan FTP to begin its island-wide independent customs operations, serving as a crucial stage that bridges past achievements with future development.
Looking ahead, innovation will be an important focus for Hainan FTP’s development, with huge potential to unleash, particularly in technological and industrial advancement under the nation’s push for new quality productive forces, Yu said, noting that this development also encompasses talent cultivation, institutional innovation, and novel approaches to growth.
“By leveraging its unique resource advantages, such as deep-sea potential, Hainan can promote innovation in important areas such as deep-sea technology and develop the deep-sea equipment manufacturing industry,” Yu added.
Going forward, the development and opening-up of Hainan FTP is of great significance for local, regional, and national growth, experts said.
“As a pilot zone, Hainan will harness institutional innovation and policy measures to continuously enhance the business environment, attract international resources and capital, and generate new momentum for economic transformation and upgrading,” Liang said.
