The Hainan Free Trade Port emphasizes driving the “15th Five-Year Plan” development with institutional opening-up

On August 31, the first salon of the 2026 “15th FiveYear Plan · United in Strength to Develop the Free Trade Port” was held in Haikou. Yu Shengguo, an associate professor at the International Business School of Hainan University, said at the event that the key to Hainan’s advancement of highlevel openingup lies in using institutional openingup as an important driver to push the free trade port from policy advantages toward institutional advantages. Regarding the development of the Hainan Free Trade Port during the “15th FiveYear Plan” period, he suggested first carrying out a special assessment of enterprises’ sense of gain from the islandwide customs closure policies, with a focus on understanding the actual experiences of enterprises of different sizes and from different regions in using policies such as zerotariff, the 2/15%, and EF accounts, and then optimizing policy design accordingly so that more small and mediumsized enterprises can truly benefit. He also proposed compiling a “Free Trade Port Policy Application List” and an enterprise suitability selfassessment tool to help businesses more clearly identify applicable policies, application procedures, and responsible departments. At the same time, Hainan can strengthen services for small and mediumsized enterprises going overseas, improve practical support for RCEP, crossborder settlement coordination, and compliance guidance, and build a network of overseas partners by leveraging resources from Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, and overseas Chinese communities. In response to the tightening global export control and sanctions regimes, Yu Shengguo suggested that Hainan improve crossborder compliance training and consulting services for enterprises, helping foreign trade, crossborder ecommerce, and supply chain companies identify risks,守住 the bottom line of security, and enhance resilience in highlevel openingup.