China dream of Hainan island hi-tech paradise remains a work in progress
2019-03-14 09:33:44 source：South China Morning Post
March 14, 2019
With just one year left to turn the economically troubled southern island province of Hainan – known as China’s Hawaii – into a world class free trade zone, its officials have been busy during Beijing’s 11-day National People’s Congress, the country’s annual rubber stamp parliamentary sessions.
“We are doing three days’ work in one day for the opportunities [arising from the free trade zone plan], ” Liu Cigui, Hainan’s Communist Party boss, said in a provincial panel meeting last week which was open to journalists.
But, behind closed doors, Liu and his team are struggling to meet the ambitious targets set by the grand plan – personally announced by Chinese President Xi Jinping in April last year – to transform the tropical island into China’s latest free trade zone (FTZ).
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