China announces trade fair to boost Hainan’s duty-free status, show commitment to opening up
- The first edition of the China International Consumer Products Expo, also known as the Hainan Expo, will take place from May 7 to May 10
- Beijing hopes the fair will enhance the status of Hainan free-trade port and promote government’s ‘high-level opening up to the outside world’
China announced on Wednesday plans to hold a huge trade fair in Hainan as part of an effort to turn the tropical island into a duty-free destination, while sending a message that the country’s appetite for Western consumer goods was undiminished despite rising geopolitical tensions.
Beijing also hopes the event will spur consumer spending, which is recovering slowly from the coronavirus pandemic, and is at the heart of the government’s “dual-circulation” strategy that aims to reduce China’s dependence on overseas markets and technology for long-term development.
The first edition of the China International Consumer Products Expo, also known as the Hainan Expo, will take place from May 7-10 in Haikou, the capital of Hainan province, China’s Ministry and Commerce and the provincial government jointly announced. It will be the country’s first state-level exhibition focused on premium consumer goods, the organisers said.
“Convening the Hainan Expo … is to help make Hainan into an international tourism and shopping centre, which is of great significance to building the Hainan free-trade port,” Wang Bingnan, vice-minister of commerce, said at a press conference.
Chinese citizens can spend as much as 100,000 yuan (US$15,300) per person every year at duty-free shops on the island, up from the previous limit of 30,000 yuan, according to a special policy package for Hainan unveiled last June.
