On March 27, Wu Shicun, Chairman of the Huayang Center for Maritime Cooperation and Ocean Governance and Chairman of the Academic Committee of the National Institute for South China Sea Studies, gave an exclusive interview in Boao to the program team of Guizhou Satellite TV’s “Lundao: Focusing on the Hainan Free Trade Port and Sharing New Development Opportunities” on topics such as the independent customs operations of the Hainan Free Trade Port and high-level opening up.

Wu Shicun pointed out that, against the backdrop of rising uncertainty in global economic and trade relations, the independent customs operations of the Hainan Free Trade Port have sent a positive signal to the international community of China’s firm commitment to expanding opening up. This will help provide multinational enterprises with a more stable and predictable institutional environment and, at the regional level, strengthen China’s economic and trade ties with economies such as ASEAN, making Hainan an important node linking the domestic and international dual circulations.

Drawing on international experience, Wu Shicun said that Hainan should, while benchmarking itself against free trade ports such as Singapore and Dubai, explore a differentiated development path based on the advantages of China’s market and the South China Sea’s geographic location. In terms of rule alignment, Hainan should move to take the lead in implementing RCEP provisions and proactively align itself with high-standard economic and trade rules such as the CPTPP and DEPA in such areas as cross-border data flows and the digital economy, so as to build a new high ground for institutional opening up.

At the conclusion of the interview, Wu Shicun said that 2026, as the first year of the 15th Five-Year Plan period and the first year of island-wide independent customs operations of the Hainan Free Trade Port, marks a new stage in Hainan’s transition from policy-based pilot measures to institutional opening up. Looking ahead, Hainan should take institutional innovation as the core and high-level opening up as the guiding principle, continue to enhance its international competitiveness, and strive to build itself into an important gateway leading China’s opening up in the new era.