Xi stresses adopting high standards for building Hainan Free Trade Port

SANYA -- President Xi Jinping on Thursday stressed adopting high standards for building the Hainan Free Trade Port (FTP).

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 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.

The Hainan FTP will officially launch island-wide special customs operations on Dec. 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.

In order to build the Hainan FTP into a key gateway driving the country's opening up in the new era, it is imperative to fully carry out the master plan of the Hainan FTP construction, implement the Hainan Free Trade Port Law, and establish the framework of policies and institutions that align with the high-level FTP in a series of steps and phases, he said.

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.

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.

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.

Highlighting Hainan's ecological advantages, Xi urged efforts to advance the high-quality development of the national pilot zone for ecological conservation. He also emphasized improving people's well-being and making solid progress toward common prosperity.