Foreign investment booming in China's largest FTZ

Auditing and consulting firm Deloitte China launched its regional headquarters on Jan 9 in Sanya, a coastal city in South China's Hainan province.

"Hainan is China's pilot zone for deepening reform and the high ground for opening up," said Dong Debiao, general manager of Deloitte China's Hainan office. "Hainan boasts a vast market, which will facilitate Deloitte's innovative projects."

After being approved to build a pilot free trade zone (FTZ) and explore the establishment of a free trade port in 2018, Hainan is becoming a magnet for foreign investment with growing openness.

Dong said Deloitte would provide professional services to support the construction of the Hainan pilot FTZ and free trade port in fields including creating a world-class business environment, carrying out global investment cooperation and improving government service capabilities.

Besides Deloitte, a number of the world's top 500 enterprises and industry leaders have invested in Hainan.

SOSV (Sanya) Equity Investment Co Ltd, invested by the global venture capital firm SOSV, was founded in Sanya in April 2019 as Hainan's first foreign-funded equity investment company.

"Openness and innovation are the important factors that attracted SOSV to enter Hainan," said Joey Zhou, who is in charge of SOSV (Sanya).

"We attach great value to the business environment and the free flow of overseas capital," said Zhou.

SOSV (Sanya) has invested in nine projects since its establishment. "We're still groping our way forward, but we believe the future can be promising," Zhou said.

The latest statistics from the provincial department of commerce showed 338 new foreign-funded enterprises were set up in Hainan in 2019, registering a year-on-year increase of 102.4 percent, and the use of foreign capital reached $1.52 billion, up 107.8 percent year-on-year.

Last year, Hainan adopted a series of measures to promote foreign investment, including implementing the negative list of free trade zones and continuously optimizing the business environment.

As Hainan speeds up the construction of the free trade port in 2020, the province has vowed to promote the quality and openness of trade and use foreign capital at a higher level.

Data from the Ministry of Commerce showed that foreign direct investment expanded 6 percent year-on-year to 845.9 billion yuan (about $122 billion) on the Chinese mainland in the first 11 months of 2019.