Meeting International Economic and Trade Rules: A Case Study of Hainan Free Trade Port, China

Abstract

This article introduces the development process and main characteristics of China’s Hainan Free Trade Port (Hainan FTP) and analyses the risks and challenges China Customs may encounter in matching the high-standard international economic and trade rules in promoting its construction. A comparative analysis is used to demonstrate the comparative advantages of Hainan FTP with other free trade zones (FTZs) around the world. This research shows that, as an important measure of China’s high-level economic reform, even though China Customs has to some extent reformed the tariff collection and supervision models towards Hainan FTP, it is still necessary to improve trade facilitation and continuously optimise the business-enabling environment to achieve high-quality development of Hainan FTP.