HAIKOU /CHINA/, July 19. /TASS/. Authorities in China’s southern Hainan Province have effectively eliminated the costs foreign investors typically incur when registering companies on the island, Hainan Ribao newspaper reported.
According to the newspaper, business registration procedures are now conducted entirely online through the official platform. Earlier, the government of China's southernmost region carried out a series of "five-in-one" reforms, which simplified legal entity verification for investors from Hong Kong and Macau, China’s two special administrative regions, provided them with full digital document processing, optimized the registration process for foreign enterprises, lowered the threshold for direct foreign capital access, and integrated the processes of establishing, transforming, and liquidating commercial entities.
The publication cited an investor who explained that, in the past, foreign entrepreneurs seeking to start a business in Hainan had to notarize the necessary documents abroad and then send them to China, where a local representative would assist with company registration. This process could take anywhere from one to three months and typically cost thousands of yuan (hundreds of dollars). Now, all of these steps can be completed online.
Chen Shuying, Director of the Registration Department at Hainan’s Market Supervision Administration, explained that foreign investors previously faced difficulties because they could not complete identity verification or certify documents on the business registration platform. This significantly complicated the procedures. In cooperation with public security and immigration authorities, officials expanded identity verification channels. This made it possible to automatically generate a digital signature confirming the individual’s identity.
As noted, the entire registration process on Hainan is now accessible online for residents of Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan with a mainland entry permit or residence status, as well as for foreigners with permanent residency in China and individuals of Chinese descent who are citizens of other countries. Additionally, the list of required documents has been significantly shortened.
According to data from the local Market Supervision Administration, the number of countries and regions investing in the island’s economy has risen from 43 in 2018 to 176 today. The authorities’ incentive measures, including the simplification of business registration procedures, have played a crucial role in expanding the pool of foreign investors. Hainan leads all Chinese regions in the growth rate of foreign enterprises: as of the end of June, the province was home to more than 10,600 such companies – an increase of 15.6% compared to the same month in 2024.