Hainan Free Trade Port to become global innovation hub: Swedish expert

A Swedish expert praised Hainan Free Trade Port's new island-wide customs operations, saying they will expand zero-tariff coverage, strengthen key industries, and help make the island a hub for global innovation and services.

An aerial drone photo shows a vessel carrying 179,000 tonnes of petrochemical raw materials berthing at Yangpu Port in Danzhou, south China's Hainan Province, Dec. 18, 2025. (Xinhua/Guo Cheng)

STOCKHOLM, Dec. 19 (Xinhua) -- The launch of island-wide special customs operations in China's Hainan Free Trade Port (FTP) will significantly expand zero-tariff coverage, boost key industries, and help turn the island into a new hub for global innovation and services, a Swedish expert has said.

Hussein Askary, vice chairman of the Belt and Road Institute in Sweden, told Xinhua in a recent interview that the move will further open up sectors such as tourism, modern services, and high-tech industries, "raising Hainan's strategic role and growth potential on multiple levels and fostering a new hotspot for innovative industries and services."

On Thursday, Hainan FTP officially began island-wide special customs operations, a landmark step in China's drive to build an open world economy.

Hainan, China's southernmost island province, has been a special economic zone for many years and is the largest of its kind in the country. In 2018, China set up a pilot free trade zone on the island.

Askary noted that in recent years, Hainan's goods trade and foreign investment have both maintained rapid growth, "fully demonstrating the tangible benefits generated by China's policy of further opening-up."

A long-time observer of China, Askary acknowledged that historically, Hainan was a key node on the ancient Maritime Silk Road.

Inbound passengers line up for border procedures at Sanya Phoenix International Airport in Sanya, south China's Hainan Province, Dec. 18, 2025. (Photo by Meng Xushun/Xinhua)

"Hainan has long been an essential stop for merchants from Arab countries and along the Indian Ocean who sailed along the Maritime Silk Road to trade with southeastern China," he said. "It is a place rich in history and culture, very special."

According to Askary, Hainan enjoys a series of unique advantages. "Not only is Hainan much larger in land area, it also has the vast market of the world's second-largest economy behind it," he said. "China has the world's largest and most complete industrial system and supply chains, which can supply Hainan with high-quality products and equipment."

Hainan's geographic location further strengthens its prospects, he added. The island is close to many of China's major economic and trade partners, including members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

"With such a position and momentum, Hainan has ample potential for future development," Askary said.

Under one of the new policies taking effect in Hainan, goods processed there with an added value of more than 30 percent will be allowed to enter the Chinese mainland market tariff-free. "Arrangements such as this have hardly been tried elsewhere in the world, so the Hainan FTP is a major pioneering effort in exploring new models and ideas for free trade and globalization," he elaborated.

An aerial drone photo taken on Dec. 18, 2025 shows Haikou International Duty Free Shopping Complex in Haikou, south China's Hainan Province. (Xinhua/Yang Guanyu)

At a time when trade protectionism and anti-globalization sentiments are on the rise in some parts of the world, Askary praised China's readiness to assume responsibilities and pursue innovative forms of opening-up.

"Some countries that once championed globalization and free trade are now trying to shut their doors and isolate themselves," he said. "China, by contrast, continues to expand opening-up and firmly supports free trade and economic globalization."

The Hainan FTP is a testament to China's commitment to creating new opportunities in a changing international environment, underlined Askary.

"The idea that all countries should develop together and share prosperity is an important message from China, and it is highly relevant for many nations today, especially in the West," Askary concluded.