With China’s southern island province of Hainan developing into a major free trade port, it is becoming a key gateway linking the Chinese and global markets, especially in advanced, niche sectors, according to an expert from the National University of Singapore (NUS).
In a recent interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN), Goh Puay Guan, Track Leader at the Centre for Maritime Studies of NUS, highlighted Hainan's unique role in advancing China's high-standard opening-up.
"Traditionally, it (Hainan) started as sort of an agriculture-and-tourism type industry. And I understand that now there's a lot of push towards higher value-added manufacturing, in biotechnology, robotics, AI, etc. So I think in areas like that, it can sort of play a complementary role that helps it to act as a gateway right into the main Chinese market and vice versa, as a conduit for the products to come out through the Hainan free trade market and then go out to the rest of the world,” he said.
To fully leverage its unique position, Hainan should focus on advanced, niche industries and seek broader development on the basis of those, said Goh.
"It (Hainan) may have to select certain niche areas that it can be very strong in, for example, healthcare or medical services. So certain niche areas like this, where it potentially can play a certain role, I think that it may be good, in this way, to find certain roles it can take part in and therefore be able to tap on these different sectors of China's growth and economy," he said.
Hainan to be gateway into Chinese market, featuring higher value-added industries: expert
