BEIJING: As a colossal bulk carrier ship laden with 179,000 metric tons of petrochemical raw materials eased alongside the dock on Thursday morning, a clear announcement echoed across the port: “The Yangpu Maritime Safety Administration welcomes your vessel to the Hainan Free Trade Port.”
The vessel was delivering the first shipment of zero-tariff imported goods as China launched island-wide special customs operations at the Hainan FTP, the world’s largest by area.
Around the same time, at Haikou Meilan International Airport’s cargo terminal, 3,300 boxes of locally produced chocolate, achieving at least 30 percent value-added processing on the island, began the journey north to Beijing and Hanzhong, Shaanxi province, as the first shipment of duty-exempt goods.
The initiative on the island will promote freer entry of overseas goods, zero-tariff expansion and a pro-business climate.
It underscores the country’s determination to advance high-standard opening-up and turn China’s super-sized market into a stronger magnet for global trade and investment, despite rising protectionism worldwide, senior officials and business leaders said.
Vice-Premier He Lifeng said that it is essential to seize the opportunity presented by the special customs operations to persistently deepen reforms in key areas, solidly promote high-quality development and continually improve the risk prevention and control framework.
The goal is to shape the Hainan FTP into a pivotal gateway that leads China’s new round of opening-up in the new era, the vice-premier said at the launch ceremony in Haikou, Hainan province, on Thursday, which also marked the 47th anniversary of the initiation of China’s reform and opening-up policy.
China released a master plan in June 2020 to build Hainan into a globally influential, high-level free trade port by the middle of the century, and it is a significant move by the country’s top leadership to support the construction of the Hainan FTP system with Chinese characteristics.
The special customs operations are built on a framework of “freer access at the first line, regulated access at the second line, and free circulation within the island”. –The Daily Mail-China Daily news exchange item
