Consumers choose goods in a duty-free store in Haikou, South China's Hainan Province, on November 2, 2025. Photo: VCG

China's Hainan Free Trade Port (FTP) positioned itself on Monday as a gateway for Global South nations seeking access to the Chinese market, while pledging to share the country's new development opportunities, officials said.

They made the remarks during the Global South Media Briefing on High-standard Construction of the Hainan FTP and island-wide special customs operations held in Haikou, South China's Hainan Province, where senior provincial officials outlined how the island aims to pair its upcoming island-wide special customs operations with deeper engagement with emerging economies. 

The Hainan FTP will officially launch island-wide special customs operations on December 18.

A Chinese expert noted that the message on Monday was clear: as China broadens high-level opening-up, Hainan will serve as a platform for "shared opportunities" with developing nations.

Wang Bin, Hainan's top publicity official, told reporters from 33 Global South countries that "Hainan is not only a connecting point for trade with the Global South, but also a distribution hub for two-way flows," according to a statement the Hainan Foreign Affairs Office sent to the Global Times on Monday.

In terms of policy empowerment, he stated that Hainan will implement the special customs supervision model of "freer access at the first line, regulated access at the second line, and free flow within the island," with most imported goods, production equipment, and raw materials enjoying zero-tariff treatment, while corporate income tax and high-end talent income tax rates are as low as 15 percent.

"These policies can reduce operating costs for enterprises from countries and regions in the Global South by nearly 20 percent," he further explained.

Wang specifically mentioned that Hainan's cross-border e-commerce "dual-duty-free" policy enables specialty goods from countries in the Global South to enter the Chinese market more efficiently and at a lower cost. "Several countries in the Global South have established trade centers in Hainan, supporting the development of 'processing for re-export' cooperation models," Wang summarized.

Once island-wide special customs operations are launched, the proportion of goods enjoying zero-tariff treatment will increase from 21 percent to 74 percent.
The move will further reduce the cost of exporting advantageous goods from countries and regions in the Global South to Hainan, Li Zhiping, Deputy Director-General of the Department of Commerce of Hainan Province, said during the conference. 

Global South enterprises importing raw materials, equipment and components through the Hainan FTP can not only enjoy zero tariffs but are also exempt from import-stage value-added and consumption taxes, significantly lowering their overall tax burden, Song Wei, a professor at the School of International Relations and Diplomacy at Beijing Foreign Studies University, told the Global Times on Monday. 

These layered tax incentives will create a systemic policy dividend that will sharpen firms' operational efficiency and strengthen their market competitiveness, Song noted. 
"Our approach is to keep the door wide open, offering equal treatment to all investors around the world," said Huang Peng, Deputy Director-General of the Hainan Provincial Development and Reform Commission.

Hainan's value-added processing policy also provides a distinctive channel for Global South goods to enter the Chinese market. Products that undergo value-added processing of more than 30 percent in Hainan can be sold tariff-free within the Chinese mainland, greatly enhancing their competitiveness. Meanwhile, the island's special customs regime has streamlined clearance procedures, cut time and costs, and enabled faster integration into the Chinese market, Song said. 

Located at a strategic position close to Southeast Asia, and serving as a key node of the Belt and Road Initiative, Hainan offers a natural geographic advantage. This positioning allows Global South enterprises to enter China more efficiently and expand their reach into broader global markets.

The province's growing relevance is not limited to inbound interest. The province's commerce official also noted Hainan's growing role as an outbound investment base, saying that the FTP is increasingly used by Chinese firms establishing overseas operations, particularly in Southeast Asia.
 
Notably, driven by policies such as tax exemptions on income from new overseas investments and the exchange facilitation account system, Hainan's outbound investment has experienced rapid growth, Li Zhiping told the conference.

From January to October, Hainan added 296 newly registered outward investment enterprises, up 43 percent year-on-year, while paid-up outward investment reached $3.17 billion, rising 42.6 percent from a year earlier, Li told the conference.

During the same period, Hainan's investment in Southeast Asia reached $5.4 billion, accounting for 41.7 percent of the province's total outbound investment. Following the launch of special customs operations, it is expected that economic and trade cooperation with countries and regions in the Global South will grow even closer.

As Wang put it, "Without a doubt, Hainan is becoming a new frontier for China's opening-up, a new hotspot for regional mutually beneficial cooperation, and a new engine for promoting economic globalization."