China’s island province of Hainan welcomed 1,320 new foreign-invested businesses in 2022, with the actual use of foreign capital amounting to $4.05 billion, a year-on-year increase of 15% , according to the Provincial Department of Commerce. 

Located in the Haikou Dayingshan Central Business District, the Window to Global Trade (WGT) plays a key role in attracting foreign investment in Hainan province. (Photo / Song Guoqiang)

Since China issued a master plan in June 2020 to develop Hainan into a globally influential, high-level free trade port (FTP) by the middle of the century, the island has been optimizing actual use of foreign capital.

Last year Hainan saw the actual use of foreign capital reach $3.74 billion in modern services — one of the province’s four leading industries, up 16.1% year-on-year. The proportion of total foreign capital grew from 61%  in 2018 to 92% last year.

In 2022, a total of 127 countries and regions from around the world invested in the Hainan FTP, with the number of foreign-invested market entities from America and European countries surging. The new businesses are mostly from China’s Hong Kong and Taiwan, America, Singapore, and Canada.

British actual use of foreign capital in Hainan reached $350 million, a year-on-year increase of 191.7%. As of now, all the G20 members as well as members of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) except Brunei and Laos have invested in Hainan.

Internationally renowned enterprises operating businesses in the Hainan FTP last year include the French LVMH, American Estee Lauder and Tapestry in high-end consumer products, the American Viatris and IQVIA, and Singaporean Raffles Hospital in the healthcare industry, the Swiss Union Bancaire Privée in finance, the British Sotheby's in art auctions, and the American Dun & Bradstreet in data services.