Recently the New York Times reported the following:
China Sells the World on Its Duty-Free Island, Amid a $1
Trillion Trade Surplus (1/2)
Policies meant to lure importers to Hainan, a resort
island off China’s coast, signal an opening up, Beijing says. One expert calls
it a “bait and switch.”
By Andrew Higgins
Jan. 7, 2026
With tariffs rising around the world and President Trump
vowing an end to decades of globalization, China’s leadership is trumpeting a
tropical island as proof that it is moving in the opposite direction.
The island of Hainan — a province of China off the country’s southern coast 50 times the size of Singapore — last month scrapped tariffs on most imports, slashed corporate and individual taxes and declared itself the world’s largest “free trade port.” China declared it an emblem of its readiness for two-way trade with the world.
Xi Jinping, China’s top leader, called Hainan “a significant gateway leading China’s opening up in the new era.”
As portrayed by Beijing, Hainan’s experiment with tariff-free trade recalls the spirit of China’s early reform era after the death of Mao Zedong in 1976. The Communist Party ditched socialist dogma and began testing bold free-market policies in certain areas. Those that worked were rolled out more widely.
China’s place in global trade is very different now. The country has grown into the world’s unrivaled manufacturing power and second-largest economy. Mr. Xi has repeatedly called for self-reliance and worked to ensure that China is never dependent on anything foreign. He has shown little interest in altering the high tariffs and export-focused policies that helped give China a gargantuan $1 trillion trade surplus last year.
“There is no sign that Hainan is a forerunner for a broader and more systematic opening up of the national economy,” said Richard McGregor, a senior fellow for East Asia at the Lowy Institute, an Australian research center. “At a time of record trade surpluses,” he added, Hainan’s new role as a free trade entrepôt “has a strong whiff of bait and switch about it in political and P.R. terms.”
The combination of
policies is meant to prevent the tariff-free imports to Hainan from seeping
into other parts of the country, where high tariffs remain in force.
That China has no plans to abandon its protectionist trade
policies was made clear a few days after the Hainan Free Trade Port began
working on Dec. 18: The commerce ministry in Beijing imposed tariffs of up to
42.7 percent on dairy imports to China from Europe.
On the last day of the year, the ministry announced what it called “safeguard measures on imported beef,” a system of quotas and tariffs of 55 percent designed to limit imports. And on Tuesday, it said it would put tight controls on exports of goods to Japan that have dual civilian and military uses.
Goods imported to Hainan cannot be shipped to other parts of China duty-free unless they have been processed in ways that increase their value by at least 30 percent.
At Haikou’s New Port, a gigantic passenger and cargo terminal in the provincial capital, ships sail night and day to the neighboring province of Guangdong. But what used to be a domestic transport hub has become in effect an international border. The Chinese customs service controls the flow of goods out of Hainan to elsewhere in China, checking trucks for any duty-free goods that are being smuggled into the rest of the country.
(to be continued)
Translation
正在有貿易順差1兆美元的中國, 向世界推銷其免稅島嶼（1/2）
北京方面表示，旨在吸引進口商前往中國海南島, 一個沿海度假島嶼的政策，標誌著中國正在走向開放。一位專家稱之為「誘餌和轉變」。
隨著全球關稅不斷上升，特朗普總統誓言要終結數十年的全球化進程，但中國領導層大肆宣傳一座熱帶島嶼，證明中國正在朝著相反的方向發展。
海南島 - 位於中國南部沿海，面積是新加坡的50倍 - 上個月取消了大部分進口商品的關稅，大幅削減了企業和個人所得稅，並宣布自己是世界上最大的「自由貿易港」。中國稱其為與世界開展雙向貿易的象徵。
中國最高領導人習近平稱海南為「引領中國新時代對外開放的重要門戶」。
北京方面認為，海南的零關稅貿易試驗讓人想起1976年毛澤東逝世後中國改革開放初期的精神。當時，中國共產黨摒棄了社會主義教條，開始在某些領域試行大膽的自由市場政策。那些發現行之有效的政策被廣泛推廣。
如今，中國在全球貿易中的地位已截然不同。中國已發展成為世界首屈一指的製造業強國和第二大經濟體。習近平主席多次呼籲自力更生，並致力於確保中國永遠不依賴任何外國。他似乎没有興趣對改變高入口關稅和出口導向政策，而正是這些政策幫助中國在去年實現了高達1兆美元的貿易順差。
澳洲洛伊研究所東亞高級研究員Richard McGregor表示:「沒有任何跡象表明海南是更廣泛、更具系統性開放國民經濟的先驅」。他補充道: 「在貿易順差創歷史新高之際」，海南作為自由貿易轉口港的新角色，「從政治和公關角度來看，帶有濃厚的誘餌和轉變意味」。
如今，大部分外國商品可以自由流入海南島，該島人口僅1,000萬，佔中國總人口的不到1%。但除非滿足嚴格的條件，這些進口商品不得離開海南島，流入中國其他地區。
這一系列政策旨在防止免稅進口到海南的商品流入中國其他地區，因為這些地區仍然實施高關稅。
中國沒有放棄貿易保護主義政策的計劃就已昭然若揭, 海南自由貿易港於12月18日投入運營幾天后：北京商務部對從歐洲進口到中國的乳製品徵收最高達42.7%的關稅。
在2025年的最後一天，商務部宣佈了所謂的“進口牛肉保障措施”，這是一套配額制度，並徵收高達55%的關稅，旨在限制進口。週二，商務部表示將對出口到日本的軍民兩用商品實施嚴格管制。
進口到海南的貨物，除非經過當地加工使其價值增加至少30%，否則不能免稅運往中國其他地區。
在海口新港, 一個海南省的巨型客貨碼頭, 船隻日夜不停地駛往鄰近的廣東省。但這個曾經是國內的交通樞紐，如今實際上已成為國際邊界。中國海關控制從海南流向中國其他地區的貨物，檢查貨車上是否有任何走私免稅貨物進入中國其他地區。
（待續）
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