Hainan Free Trade Port tipped to play key role amid global trade tensions: experts

The Center for China and Globalization (CCG) on Friday held the 13th CCG VIP Luncheon in Beijing, focusing on the Hainan Free Trade Port's progress and China's efforts to further open up its economy.

To fully leverage its strengths as an international think tank, the CCG launched the VIP Luncheon series in January 2015. The initiative aims to provide a regular platform for leading Chinese entrepreneurs and industrial elites to engage in dialogue with domestic and international political figures, renowned scholars and pioneering professionals.

It has since become one of China's most cutting-edge platforms for high-level social engagement, knowledge exchange, and policy recommendations centered around the theme of "China and Globalization."

Officials from Hainan shared insights on the port's transformative role during Friday's event that brought together diplomats, business leaders and the media to discuss the next phase of economic reform.

They said the low tax burden and preferential policies in Hainan, which is China's largest special economic zone and a key free trade port, will give a boost to the Chinese economy amid global trade tensions.

"Hainan is going to take off, going to be the largest free trade zone [in China]. They have the shortest negative list [for investment]. They have also [policies allowing people from] 78 countries without visa to visit. And also, they have [events like] the Consumer Expo, they have Bo'ao Forum. And then, most importantly, they have the experiments of new policies, which can be amplified to the rest of the country. Furthermore, they are at the center of RCEP (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership), of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), so they represent China, which is a gateway for China to the world, to the ASEAN, to Asia. So, this is very significant that Hainan is going to be another big powerhouse of China's economic takeoff," said Wang Huiyao, president of CCG.

Hainan is China's first province to transform an entire island, spanning 34,000 square kilometers, into a free trade port that serves as a testbed for the unrestricted flow of goods, services, capital and data.

By the end of 2024, Hainan was home to 9,979 foreign-invested enterprises, 77.3 percent of which were established after June 2020 when China released its master plan for the Hainan FTP. The number of countries and regions investing in the province has grown from 43 in 2018 to 174 today.

Hainan Free Trade Port tipped to play key role amid global trade tensions: experts

The death toll from a landfill collapse in the central Philippine city of Cebu has risen to eight by Monday morning as search and rescue operations continued for another 28 missing people.

The landfill collapse occurred on Thursday as dozens of sanitation workers were working at the site. The disaster has already caused injuries of 18 people.

Family members of the missing people said the rescue progress is slow, and the hope for the survival of their loved ones is fading.

"For me, maybe I’ve accepted the worst result already because the garbage is poisonous and yesterday, it was raining very hard the whole day. Maybe they’ve been poisoned. For us, alive or dead, I hope we can get their bodies out of the garbage rubble," said Maria Kareen Rubin, a family member of a victim.

Families have set up camps on high ground near the landfill, awaiting news of their relatives. Some people at the site said cries for help could still be heard hours after the landfill collapsed, but these voices gradually faded away.

Bienvenido Ranido, who lost his wife in the disaster, said he can't believe all that happened.

"After they gave my wife oxygen, my kids and I were expecting that she would be saved that night because she was still alive. But the night came and till the next morning, they didn't manage to save her," he said.

Death toll in central Philippine landfill collapse rises to eight