Hainan SEZ riding a wave of opportunity

Southernmost province can become the new benchmark for comprehensively deepening reform and opening-up in the new era

On April 13, President Xi Jinping delivered an important speech at a gathering to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Hainan becoming a province and a special economic zone, drawing a magnificent blueprint for the development of the island in the next 30 years.

The province is sailing toward a prosperous economy, a civilized society, a livable ecology and overall wellbeing. The founding and prosperity of Hainan is due to reform and opening-up. It has been 30 years since the establishment of the province and SEZ, and Hainan - then a closed and backward border island - has achieved tremendous change, developing into one of China's most open and dynamic regions.

Supporting Hainan in deepening reforms in the new era is a major national strategy that President Xi has personally planned, deployed and promoted. It is of far-reaching strategic significance to the goal of expanding the depth and breadth of reforms, making new ground in pursuing opening-up on all fronts, and demonstrating the superiority of the socialist system with Chinese characteristics.

Now is the right time to comprehensively deepen reform and opening-up in Hainan. The world economy has entered a new era of development, change and adjustment. There is still instability and uncertainty. On the one hand, economic globalization has become an irreversible trend, but on the other hand, protectionism, unilateralism and other counter-globalization trends and practices have increased.

The international community is facing a major choice: Open or close, go forward or backward? China will comprehensively deepen reform in Hainan, explore and practice a number of new measures to open up further, including the establishment of free-trade ports, and create a new platform for interconnection and integrated development of China and other countries, fully demonstrating China's confidence and determination in opening-up. China will show a more active, confident and responsible attitude, and will provide opportunities to the world, contributing to enhanced international confidence in the prospect of economic globalization and promoting the construction of a world with an open economy.

It has been 40 years since the adoption of reform and opening-up. People across the country have worked hard to liberate and develop social productive forces. With the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in October last year as a landmark, the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era. China's economy is transitioning from a phase of rapid growth to a stage of high-quality development. This is a pivotal stage for transforming our growth model, improving our economic structure, and fostering new drivers of growth.

Opening-up has been key to China's economic development over the past 40 years. In the same vein, high-quality development can only be achieved through greater openness. The CPC Central Committee has given the Hainan SEZ a new mission to comprehensively deepen reform and opening-up, free minds and conduct bold exploration in building a modern economic system in order to achieve a high level of openness, enhance tourism, and reform and innovate institutional mechanisms. The SEZ will promote reform and development through opening-up and will work hard for better quality, higher efficiency and more robust drivers of economic growth through reform, setting a vivid example in this new era.

Constructing pilot free-trade zones and ports with Chinese characteristics is instrumental for deepening reform and opening-up in Hainan. Over the past 40 years, practice has shown that opening-up is also a kind of reform. Great opening-up leads to great reform. Intensified opening-up forces deeper reform. Comprehensive opening-up boosts comprehensive reform. Constructing pilot FTZs and free trade ports with Chinese characteristics - which drives institutional mechanism reform, the construction of a modernized economic system and high-quality development - will be instrumental as Hainan embarks on a new path of development and establishes a pilot zone for comprehensively deepening reform and opening-up.

China has 11 pilot FTZs, including in Shanghai, Guangdong province and Tianjin. After a period of development and construction, these pilot FTZs have actively explored governmental administration system reform, investment management, trade facilitation and financial innovation. They have accumulated successful experience and replicated and promoted that throughout the country, representing China's highest level of openness.

Construction of Hainan's pilot FTZ should take the island's local elements into account, with institutional innovation as the core. We should support the FTZ to boldly conduct trials and develop its own reform strategy. This is conducive to accelerating the formation of a legal, international, facilitative business environment, and a fair and unified market environment. Hainan's pilot FTZ will be the largest in China in terms of population and area. It will become an important window for China to communicate with the world in the new era.

Free-trade ports are located in a country or region's territory but outside the customs system, allowing goods, people and funds to enter and leave with greater freedom, with most goods exempt from duties. It is an SEZ with the highest level of openness in the world. We are going to explore the construction of Hainan free-trade ports with Chinese characteristics, which are mainly reflected in the following aspects: a focus on tourism development and modern service and high-tech industries, instead of re-export trade or processing and manufacturing industries; a multistage plan to establish a free-trade port policy system; and a plan to conduct in-depth research and demonstration of various policies, strengthen identification and prevention of major financial risks, and optimize customs supervision. This is another major theoretical and practical innovation of the socialist system with Chinese characteristics and will surely become an important precursor for comprehensively deepening reform and opening-up.

The ocean is a prominent feature and advantage of the development of Hainan. Historical experience shows that the ocean is an important support and key resource for a country's openness, cooperation and development. A country with maritime power is a strong country. In the 21st century, mankind has entered a period of large-scale development and use of the oceans. Strengthening overall development of land and sea as well as forming a coordinated development of resources, industries and space is crucial to the overall development and reform of China.

Hainan is the country's southernmost point, known as the pearl of the South China Sea and China's "treasure island". It has a vast sea area and a wealth of marine resources such as coastlines, islands, ports and biotical and mineral resources. It is an important portal for China to open to the Pacific and Indian oceans.

It has been 30 years since the establishment of the SEZ, and Hainan's marine economy, tourism development and foreign exchanges are rising to new heights. The marine economy's contribution to regional GDP has approached 30 percent, while tourism revenue has grown rapidly. The annual Boao Forum for Asia, the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation Leader's Meeting and the Roundtable Conference on China-Africa Cooperation have all been successfully held in Hainan. The ocean has become the most prominent feature and the most important comparative advantage in Hainan. To deepen reform and opening-up in the new era, Hainan needs to tap the potential of oceans in economic development, opening-up and international cooperation and exchanges, and thus the country will be benefited from its growing maritime power.

Adhering to people-centered development is the basic principle for Hainan to build a modern economic system. People are the creators of history. They are the backbone that determines the future and destiny of the Party and the country. Comprehensively deepening reform and opening-up, and sustaining healthy development of the economy and society, relies on the people and benefits the people. Only by relying on the people will reforms gain momentum, will the opening-up burst with vitality, and will the developments have inexhaustible power.

Adhering to people-centered development is one of the basic strategies to develop socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era, and it is also the fundamental principle for Hainan to comprehensively deepen reform and opening-up. After years of development, the foundation of people's livelihood in Hainan has been continuously consolidated, and the living standards of people of all ethnic groups have been significantly improved. However, there are still shortcomings in areas such as ecological and environmental protection, human resources, social governance and basic public services. This is not only a problem in Hainan, but also a reflection of the principal contradiction facing Chinese society in the new era - the contradiction between unbalanced and inadequate development and the people's ever-growing need for a better life. Intensifying reform and opening-up in a comprehensive way requires Hainan to safeguard and improve people's livelihoods, release development vigor and creativity through the all-around development of people, and fully demonstrate the superiority of the socialist system with Chinese characteristics.

As an old Chinese saying goes, "One does not have to follow a beaten path if he wishes to benefit the people, and one does not have to observe old conventions if he wishes to get things done." President Xi has pointed out that reform and innovation are the fundamental driving forces of human progress. Those who reject them will be left behind and assigned to the dustbin of history. Hainan's efforts to comprehensively deepen reform and opening-up have once again demonstrated to the world that the Chinese people have courageously engaged in self-revolution and self-reform. The Hainan reform is bound to become a new benchmark for this great new era.

The author is vice-president of the Chinese Academy of Macroeconomic Research of the National Development and Reform Commission. The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.