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.
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.
