Border Closure Boosts Opening-Up as Foreign Investment Pours into Hainan

The Hainan Taikoo Coca-Cola Green Smart Production Base project has completed its preliminary piling work and is now under intense construction. Song Lihua, General Manager of Hainan Taikoo Coca-Cola Beverage Co., Ltd., stated on the 11th that this project, launched just before the island-wide customs closure of the Hainan Free Trade Port, is scheduled to begin commercial operation by the end of 2027. Siemens Energy is establishing a gas turbine assembly base in Hainan, the Minhe Danzhou Grain and Oil Comprehensive Processing Industrial Park project has commenced, and the "Korea National Pavilion" project has been signed and launched. Driven by the customs closure effect, foreign investment is accelerating its entry into Hainan. From the start of the island-wide customs closure on December 18, 2025, to the end of March this year, the Hainan Free Trade Port added 785 new foreign-invested enterprises, a year-on-year increase of 33.28%.

Hainan Taikoo Coca-Cola was one of the first foreign-funded enterprises registered in Hainan when the province was established. Facing the historic opportunity presented by the full island customs closure, the company continues to firmly看好 the development prospects of Hainan. Song Lihua said that standing at the new high ground of China's opening-up, policy advantages will generate robust demand, driving the company's intelligent transformation and industrial chain upgrade.

Lui Chi-hung, Managing Partner for Hong Kong Markets and Business Growth at Deloitte China, believes that after the customs closure, Hainan holds significant value for global companies planning their Asia-Pacific布局. Leveraging a series of core policies, foreign businesses can enter the Chinese market more conveniently and at a lower cost. Supported by these rich policy application scenarios, various resources are rapidly aggregating in the key industrial parks of the Hainan Free Trade Port.

Fu Sheng, Director of the Hainan Boao Lecheng International Medical Tourism Pilot Zone Administration, stated that the park's pioneering policies, such as the application of real-world clinical data research and support for establishing wholly foreign-owned hospitals, combined with open policies like "zero tariffs," provide a unique development platform for global innovation resources and high-end medical consumption.

As a series of measures to reduce border restrictions are implemented post-closure, Hainan's industrial chains are also extending. In March this year, Silongshi (Hainan) Technology Co., Ltd., located in the Haikou Comprehensive Bonded Zone, successively completed the first bonded maintenance businesses for multiple product categories, including wireless Bluetooth earphones and LED displays. The company's General Manager, Miao Huage, said that internationally sourced electronic products can undergo the entire process of testing, repair, refurbishment, and data erasure in Hainan before being re-exported to target markets, creating a "Made in China + Hainan Services" model.

"After the island-wide customs closure, Hainan possesses the foundational conditions to advance opening-up on a broader scope and deeper level," said Guan Jirong, Deputy Secretary-General of the Hainan Provincial Committee and Executive Deputy Director of the Provincial Committee for Deepening Reform (Office of the Hainan Free Trade Port Working Committee). During the "16th Five-Year Plan" period, Hainan will steadily expand institutional opening and deepen the opening-up of commodity and factor flows. Hainan's next steps will involve dynamically adjusting various policy lists, promoting coordinated market access for domestic and foreign investment, and steadily advancing the simplified tax system reform.