China Unveils Plan to Make Hainan a Free Trade Hub like Hong Kong, Singapore as Risks of U.S. Decoupling Loom
Posted June 2, 2020
External Article: South China Morning Post
Fei-Ling Wang, professor in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs, was quoted in the article, "China Unveils Plan to Make Hainan a Free Trade Hub like Hong Kong, Singapore as Risks of U.S. Decoupling Loom" published in the South China Morning Post on June 2, 2020. An expert in regional security challenges focusing on the U.S. and China, Wang is the author of seven books including his most recent, The China Order: Centralia, World Empire, and the Nature of Chinese Power (Suny Press, 2017).
Excerpt:
Wang believes that the chance that Hainan will become another Hong Kong or another Hawaii is “very slim, if any at all.”
The key restriction, as usual, is political: there can be only so much ‘freedom’ of anything under the omnipresent party that has to control everything.
“Hainan cannot copy the critical advantages of Hong Kong without a fundamental political transformation [of China]: A well-established rule of law that protects property rights; individual freedoms; enforcement of contracts; and a good relationship with the West and the US in particular. The rest is just add-ons,” Wang said.
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