海南自贸区总体方案 (hǎinán zìmàoqū zǒngtǐfāngàn): Hainan Free Trade Zone General Plan

The China (Hainan) Free Trade Zone General Plan was officially released on Tuesday. According to the general plan, the free trade zone will cover the whole of Hainan island.

President Xi Jinping announced on the 30th anniversary of the founding of the Hainan special economic zone on April 13 that the Communist Party of China Central Committee will support the island province building a pilot free trade zone with Chinese characteristics, and the release of the general plan is expected to accelerate the development of the zone, which aims to make significant progress by 2020.

The pilot zone is expected to be an international tourism and shopping center and offer support for the construction of the Belt and Road Initiative, which will build a solid foundation for the construction of a free trade port.

The plan advances for the first time supporting cross-border enterprises and commercial companies to build and develop regional trade networks, in order to build Hainan into a regional offshore trade center.

According to the plan, Hainan free trade zone will implement pre-entry national treatment and negative list management system on foreign investment, and further deepen opening-up in key fields including the internet, telecommunications and new-energy vehicle manufacturing.