HAIKOU /China/, January 10. /TASS/. Authorities in South China's Hainan province will test offshore mechanisms in the Yangpu Port Advanced Industrial Development Zone in the northwest of the island, which will be launched across the province by 2025. This was announced by Zou Guang, the mayor of Danzhou.
"Our city (home to Yangpu Port - TASS note) will create a special area in the Yangpu Port Economic Zone. It will be used as a simulator to thoroughly test the offshore mechanisms that Hainan plans to launch in the future," China News Service quoted the official as saying.
As Zou Guan elaborated, a number of innovative measures aimed at developing and improving the competitiveness of Hainan's free trade port are to be tested at the said pilot site. "In 2023, Danzhou will continuously expand the scope of strategic mechanisms to enhance openness," he stressed.
Zou Guang recalled that Hainan has planned to implement 10 local offshore projects by 2025, four of which have already been launched and are currently well on track. They will be the basis for the transition to a new, more open customs model, which will be fundamentally different from the generally accepted mechanisms of other regions of mainland China. In the process, Yangpu Port is expected to play an increasingly important role in strengthening China's ties with the countries of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement.
Establishing an offshore zone in Hainan
In January 2021, the provincial government announced that local customs checkpoints will cease to function in their current mode by 2025. According to Shen Xiaoming, Secretary of Hainan Provincial Party Committee, all the necessary conditions will be in place by 2023, and the authorities then plan to agree on the secondary details of the new mechanism within two years. In about two years, people living on the island will be categorized as residents of an offshore territory with a special legal status.
Yangpu is located in the city of Danzhou, which is directly under the administrative authority of the Hainan authorities. This key deep-water port of the province, ideally suited for servicing large container ships, accounts for about 45% of its foreign trade turnover and about 20% of foreign investments.
This port zone of special economic development plays an important role in the development of China's transportation network; according to the Chinese government's plan Yangpu will become a key point for distributing the flow of cargo from different regions of the country to Southeast Asia and Oceania, Europe and North America by 2035. By 2025, it is expected to become a transportation hub of regional importance, with up to 5 million containers passing through it annually.