BEIJING: South China’s Hainan Province unveiled a three-year action plan on Monday, aiming to establish a modern industrial system with distinctive features and competitive advantages by 2027. This initiative comes as the Hainan Free Trade Port (FTP) will officially launch island-wide independent customs operation on December 18, a milestone in China’s opening-up efforts.
Experts noted that as Hainan leverages its position as a free trade port to deepen international cooperation and attract global resources, these measures are set to drive industrial upgrading and high-quality development, while serving as a key pivot for China’s opening-up efforts.
By 2027, the plan targets raising the contribution of four pillar industries to about 70 percent of Hainan’s GDP. Key initiatives include advancing the construction of an international tourism and consumption hub, accelerating the integration of producer services with advanced manufacturing, and upgrading lifestyle services toward higher quality.
Modern services are projected to account for nearly 30 percent of GDP by then. The integration of technological and industrial innovation will be intensified, with the province aiming to achieve a research and development investment intensity of 1.8 percent and ensure high-tech industries contribute more than 17 percent of GDP, according to the action plan.
The province is also advancing the “study in Hainan” brand by attracting high-quality foreign educational resources. It strives to introduce at least 40 types of internationally innovative pharmaceuticals and medical devices annually, with medical tourist visits exceeding 1.5 million by 2027.
Hainan is actively seeking cross-border asset management policy pilots and developing a cross-border capital monitoring platform, aiming to grow the asset management scale of the Sanya Central Business District’s modern finance cluster to nearly 600 billion yuan ($83.59 billion) by 2027.
Hainan will also establish itself as an innovation hub for the digital economy, leveraging blockchain, artificial intelligence, and big data technologies to upgrade digital health, digital entertainment, and sharing platforms. The province will actively develop the game publishing, data processing, semiconductor, and integrated circuit industries, with core digital economy industries projected to achieve 220 billion yuan in revenue by 2027.
The action plan also calls for enhancing the petrochemical and advanced materials industry while strengthening the green and low-carbon sectors.
It aims to drive high-quality development in deep-sea industries while accelerating the establishment of a complete commercial aerospace supply chain, including the construction of satellite super factories and rocket manufacturing centers.
“The plan focuses on Hainan’s competitive industries-tourism, modern services, high-tech sectors, finance, and the digital economy-setting clear development targets that fully utilize the national policies granted to the island.
Its core logic lies in leveraging Hainan’s strengths to establish a solid industrial framework for the full-island independent customs operation,” Bai Ming, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, told the Global Times on Monday.
The Hainan FTP will launch full-island independent customs operations on December 18, with the proportion of tariff lines with zero-tariff products soaring from 21 percent to 74 percent, China’s top economic planner announced at a press conference in July.
The number of duty-free items in Hainan will increase from about 1,900 to about 6,600, a significant boost in openness. The scope of eligible beneficiaries will be significantly expanded to include enterprises, public institutions, and private non-enterprise entities in the FTP with actual import needs. Once the independent customs operation begins, zero-tariff imports will be managed under a negative list, according to the press conference.
William Huang, managing partner of EY China South, expects Hainan to enter a new phase of development. “For goods trade, Hainan is poised to bridge the domestic and global markets while pioneering innovative cross-border trade models. In services, the island will leverage its unique advantages to develop premium sectors including tech R&D, healthcare, and finance, establishing itself as China’s flagship hub for services sector liberalization,” Huang told the Global Times.
As China’s pioneering free trade zone, Hainan’s flexible industrial development measures will become a distinctive highlight in the nation’s broader opening-up strategy. The island’s practical experience in industrial advancement and open-market exploration is expected to provide valuable models for other regions, contributing to China’s high-quality economic growth, Bai said. –The Daily Mail-Global Times news exchange item
