Hainan to be Focal Point of Reforms
发布时间：2021-09-30 14:50:04 来源于：CBF
摘要：
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The country has been actively promoting the construction of major projects in Hainan free trade port. A package of supportive policies will be unveiled to boost free trade in the island province.
China is preparing a package of preferential policies to further facilitate free trade and investment, and relax market access for foreign investors in China's southern Hainan Free Trade Port, offering huge growth opportunities for global stakeholders.
They said the preferential policies highlight the government's ongoing efforts to open wider to the outside world, which is set to attract a growing number of global investors from sectors such as medicine, healthcare, education, high-tech and culture to invest and develop in the Hainan Free Trade Port.
Guideline sets out 33 detailed measures to further facilitate free trade
The central government on April 9 launched a series of financial measures to turn Hainan Free Trade Port into a focal point of China's deepened reforms, showing the nation's latest efforts to further open up to the world, said experts.
The People's Bank of China, together with three other top financial regulators, released a guideline with 33 detailed measures, which are set to further facilitate free trade in Hainan, perfect its financial market system, further open up its financial market, enhance innovation, improve financial services and strengthen financial regulation.
The guideline will also help to strengthen Hainan's weak links and consolidate its financial base, the central bank said on its official website.
Under the recently announced guideline, the financial market in Hainan should shoulder more responsibility in serving the real economy. As such, competitive companies in Hainan are encouraged to go public or to expand via the multi-tranche equity market in the area, according to the guideline. Mergers and acquisitions aimed at transformation and industrial upgrading are supported, while qualified companies based in Hainan will be encouraged to issue corporate bonds.
Further financial opening-up is another highlight of the guideline. Banks in Hainan are encouraged to introduce qualified overseas strategic investors to improve their equity structure. By working more closely with insurers in the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions, Hainan should seek opportunities in offshore reinsurance businesses. Overseas institutions are allowed to set up wholly owned or jointly held futures companies in the area. Foreigners working in Hainan are allowed to participate in domestic securities investment.
Meanwhile, Hainan is allowed to carry out the outbound investment Qualified Domestic Limited Partner scheme. Qualified Foreign Limited Partners in Hainan are also allowed to freely manage their capital based on their balance. In addition, the foreign exchange registration process will be simplified.
Experts from Jingtian &Gongcheng Law Firm explained in a note that foreign equity investment firms will meet no threshold under the QFLP management rules in Hainan, and stand on a totally equal footing with similar domestic firms. The negative list mechanism is adopted for the investment scope of QFLPs in Hainan, which will help more foreign capital to invest in private equities and venture capital in the area.
A master plan for Hainan Free Trade Port was released in June, which requires establishing a basic free trade port policy system with a key focus on facilitating free trade and investment by 2025.
By 2035, the free trade port system and operations in Hainan will be more mature. By the middle of the century, a high-level free trade port with strong international influence will be fully established, according to the plan.
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22 Measures unveiled to relax Hainan market access
China also announced a number of special measures on April 9 aimed at further relaxing market access in the Hainan Free Trade Port, showing the country's drive to further open up to the world.
Officials and experts said the move is part of the government's ongoing efforts to build a testing ground for reforms and pursuing opening-up at higher levels. It is also intended to help build Hainan Island into an internationally influential and high-quality free trade port, which will serve as a new growth engine for both the national and the global economy.
The country rolled out 22 measures to facilitate the free flow of key production factors and cultivate industries with comparative advantages internationally, according to a document jointly released by the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Commerce.
New measures include supporting online sales of prescription drugs, helping the island develop an online games sector, exploring the delegation of the approval of online games to Hainan, supporting Hainan in building charging stations for new energy vehicles and pressing ahead with autonomous driving technologies and boosting the innovative development of homegrown high-end medical equipment.
The newly announced measures led shares of companies with links to Hainan free trade port to jump 1.17 percent on April 8, with Huawen Media Group and Lanhai Medical Investment Co both surging by the 10 percent daily trading limit, according to Shanghai-based information provider Wind Info.
The plan aims to establish a basic free trade port policy system with a key focus on enhancing free trade and investment by 2025.
Fueled by a package of preferential government policies, the actual use of foreign investment in Hainan totaled about $3 billion last year, doubling from $1.5 billion in 2019, according to the Hainan provincial commerce department.
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Hainan free trade port rises as investment magnet
Hainan province on April 13 witnessed the inking of 104 key projects to inject new impetus into the construction of its free trade port (FTP).
The projects, 22 of which are foreign-funded, involve 65.72 billion yuan in total investments ($10 billion) and cover tourism, modern services and high-tech industries.
The deals, signed in Haikou, the provincial capital of Hainan, also reflect the increasing appeal of the island province at the forefront of China's opening up to investors.
Previously, the FTP had seen the signing of 741 projects with an investment of 519.6 billion yuan in multiple areas including intelligent manufacturing, international shipping, education, medical care and aerospace.
China proposed setting up a free trade zone in Hainan in 2018 and began construction of the Hainan FTP last year. Over the past three years, a number of foreign companies have settled in Hainan, including Harrow School from Britain, US electric carmaker Tesla and tourism company TUI Group.
Defying the economic headwinds brought by the raging pandemic, the Hainan FTP has forged ahead with a steady inpour of investments. Authorities said that last year Hainan launched 538 projects with an investment of 172.5 billion yuan.
The Hainan FTP has become a strong magnet to foreign investment as Hainan accelerates opening up against the backdrop of global economic slowdown and shrinking foreign direct investments due to the pandemic, said Peng Wei, deputy director of Hainan's department of commerce.
In 2020, a total of 1,005 overseas-funded enterprises were established in Hainan, up 197.3 percent from the previous year, according to the department.
China's southern island province of Hainan has seen robust growth in foreign investment inflow and new market entities as it continues to improve its business environment, an official said on April 12.
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Total foreign investment into the island, in actual use, amounted to $5.27 billion over the past three years, or over half of the total inflow in the last three decades, according to Shen Xiaoming, Party chief of Hainan.
Shen unveiled the data at a news conference held in Beijing about policy and institutional progress for developing the Hainan free trade port, highlighting the region's efforts including promoting a negative list-based mechanism to ease market access. Over the past three years, the island also registered some 763,000 new market entities, Shen said.
The booming duty-free shopping sector is the FTP's another attraction for global brands wishing to explore China's huge market.
The first China International Consumer Products Expo, scheduled in Haikou in May, has attracted more than 1,100 international brands, including L'Oreal, Shiseido and Tesla.
After 2025, the entire island of Hainan could become duty-free and rise as a paradise for the duty-free and tourism retail industry, said Han Shengjian, director of the Hainan bureau of international economic development, adding that "these international brands are preparing for their future opportunities in the Hainan FTP.
（责任编辑：Cheryl）
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