The Chinese government on Monday released a master plan for the development of the Hainan free trade port, which will build the southern island province into a globally-influential high-level free trade port by 2050.
A free trade port system focusing on trade and investment liberalization and facilitation will be “basically established” in Hainan by 2025 and become “more mature” by 2035, according to the plan.
The authorities expect to make Hainan, China’s largest special economic zone, the front line of China’s integration into the global economic system. Supporting Hainan’s construction of a free trade port system with Chinese characteristics is a significant move designed, arranged and promoted by Xi Jinping, the General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, Xinhua reported.
The world is facing a new round of major development, changes and adjustment, with protectionism and unilateralism on the rise and economic globalization facing greater headwinds.
Building the Hainan free trade port is of vital importance for pursuing an open economy, deepening market-based reform and improving the business environment, as well as a strategic choice for advancing high-quality development and taking concrete action to support economic globalization and building a community of shared future for the humanity, it said.
Instead of rushing for quick results, China will advance the plan gradually. Hainan will be given more autonomy in reform and will be encouraged to make both the laws and the regulatory system more flexible and efficient, thus clearing institutional obstacles hampering the flow of production factors.
The construction of the free trade port will provide support to national strategic goals in terms of institutional innovation, growth impetus and a greater opening-up. Hainan will enhance exchanges and cooperation with Southeast Asian countries and promote joint development with the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
In past years, leading mainland developers from China Evergrande, China Overseas and R&F Properties to dry bulk carriers such as Great Harvest Maeta Group Holdings scrambled for more land in Hainan.
Last September, Great Harvest said it planned to develop its 130,000 square meters of land into a cultural, tourism and real estate project near the Hainan racecourse.
Government financing
China’s Ministry of Finance recently issued a set of guidelines called The Performance Assessment of Government-backed Financing Guarantee and Re-guarantee Institutions, effective from July 1.
According to the guidelines, government-backed financing guarantee and re-guarantee institutions will be guided to focus on their prime business, support for small firms and agriculture, and actively offer services to small and micro businesses, agriculture, farmers and rural areas and entrepreneurs and innovators.
Performance assessment will be conducted on a 100-point scale through a set of indicators including indicators on policy effects, operating capabilities, risk control and system building. Scores earned in the performance assessment correspond to different ratings. For example, a score of no less than 70 points and less than 80 points means a “medium” rating.
IPO underwriting
Total revenue generated from the IPO underwriting business of 32 brokerages’ investment banking units rose 107.7% to 5.239 billion yuan (US$733 million) in the first five months of this year from the same period of last year.
During the period, the China Securities Regulatory Commission reviewed 116 IPO candidates, 93.1% of which were approved. In the first five months of last year, the regulator reviewed only 43 IPO candidates, 88.4% of which were approved.
Company news
Guizhou Maotai, a Shanghai-listed Chinese spirit maker, on Tuesday saw its market value surge to nearly 1.8 trillion yuan, replacing the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China to become the largest Chinese firm by value in the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges. The shares had reached 1,427.9 yuan during the day, but closed down 0.62% at 1,410.17 yuan in the afternoon.
Dada Nexus, a leading on-demand retail and delivery platform in China, has filed for an IPO on the US stock market. The company plans to list on the Nasdaq by offering 16.5 million American depositary shares at a price range of $15 to $17 each, according to its prospectus filed Monday with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Each ADS represents four of its ordinary shares.
Founded in 2014, the company now operates JD-Daojia, one of China’s largest local on-demand retail platforms, and Dada Now, a leading local on-demand delivery platform in China.
ChargeSPOT, a Hong Kong powerbank startup owned by Japanese mobile battery company Inforich, is about to close its pre-IPO listing Series C fund-raising at $38 million in June, according to a company press release.
The firm with about 25,000 ChargeSPOT stations and more than 1.8 million users in Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan and Thailand, has a listing plan for Japan’s main board by 2022.
The story was written by Yang Zhijie and Nadeem Xu and first published at ATimesCN.com.