HaikouMay 1, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Since the official launch of island-wide customs clearance on December 18, 2025, the Hainan Free Trade Port has entered a new stage of reform, opening-up, and development, attracting widespread attention from the international community, especially Chinese and foreign investors. Recently, the Hainan Daily Press Group, leveraging the ASEAN Liaison Center of the Hainan International Communication Center and in collaboration with Malaysia’s century-old financial media outlet Nanyang Siang Pau, jointly researched and released the report Survey on ASEAN Enterprises’ Investment Intentions in Hainan Under the Free Trade Port Customs Clearance Operation. This report systematically reviews ASEAN regional enterprises’ and investors’ policy awareness, investment intentions, and cooperation expectations regarding the customs clearance operation of the Hainan Free Trade Port, and provides direct references from the perspective of ASEAN enterprises for deepening economic and trade cooperation between Hainan and ASEAN.
Survey Report on ASEAN Enterprises’ Investment Intentions in Hainan Under the Free Trade Port Customs Clearance Operation
The report shows that among the 106 surveyed small, medium, and large enterprises from key ASEAN member states such as Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and Thailand, over 70% recognize Hainan’s strategic value as a “transshipment or re-export platform” for entering the Chinese mainland market.
Below are the main contents of the report——
Sample Analysis
Hainan Free Trade Port Policy “Visibility“ Basically Evident
In terms of enterprise size structure, the surveyed respondents in this study are primarily small and medium-sized enterprises, while also including a certain proportion of larger enterprises with regional or cross-border business experience. Additionally, the sample includes some medium-to-large enterprises and those with cross-border business experience, providing necessary comparative dimensions for analyzing differences in cognitive structures and focus areas among entities of varying sizes.
The enterprise size structure of this survey helps understand ASEAN enterprises’ attitudes toward the Hainan Free Trade Port from multiple levels: on one hand, it reflects the practical concerns of SMEs regarding institutional thresholds and implementation conditions; on the other hand, it retains the judgment perspectives of larger enterprises on long-term strategies and regional layouts. This structure provides a relatively solid sample foundation for subsequent analyses of investment intentions, key attraction factors, and major concerns.
The results of this survey can be regarded as the latest systematic feedback from ASEAN enterprises, represented by Malaysian business groups, on the policy awareness, potential attractiveness, and main concerns of the Hainan Free Trade Port. The relevant conclusions can provide preliminary references with practical value for Hainan Free Trade Port’s subsequent policy promotion, institutional optimization, and investment attraction strategy adjustments in the ASEAN market.
Survey results show that respondents’ expectations of the government’s role are highly concentrated and clearly targeted. When evaluating the Hainan Free Trade Port, enterprises’ decision-making logic has gradually shifted from early-stage “policy-attraction-based” judgments to comprehensive assessments of institutional operability.
At the hangar of the Hainan Free Trade Port One-Stop Aircraft Maintenance Industry Base, maintenance personnel inspect an aircraft. Photo by Hainan Daily All-Media Reporter Zhang Mao
From the ranking results, “financial support and convenience” tops the list of enterprise expectations, becoming the most sought-after direction for government support. Following the official launch of customs clearance operations, enterprises’ sensitivity to cross-border fund management, settlement arrangements, financing channels, and foreign exchange management mechanisms has significantly increased. A smooth financial system will drive enterprises to make final decisions on using Hainan as an operational or regional layout node. Especially for SMEs, compared to single tax rates, the availability of financial tools, clarity of financing paths, and predictability of cross-border capital flows often constitute more practical and priority concerns.
Closely following are “rule of law and market environment” and “policy interpretation and guidance,” further highlighting enterprises’ high regard for institutional transparency and rule comprehensibility. This shows that against the backdrop of institutional boundary changes brought by customs clearance operations, enterprises hope to gain a deeper understanding of Hainan Free Trade Port’s clear rules, consistent enforcement standards, and stable, continuous policies.
Additionally, “providing policy support or easing market access” and “reducing comprehensive operational costs” also received high attention. This indicates that, given the basic feasibility of the institutional framework and financial environment, enterprises will further evaluate project cost structures and access conditions from an operational perspective, hoping for the long-term development of implemented projects.
“Talent introduction and living facilities” and “green channels for project implementation” serve as important supplementary conditions in enterprises’ overall decision-making. Particularly for enterprises planning to establish regional headquarters, R&D centers, or conduct long-term operations in Hainan, the stability of talent supply and convenience of residence and living often become key variables affecting the depth of layout and organizational stability as projects move from the intention stage to the implementation stage.
Overall, the survey results clearly show that enterprises’ expectations for Hainan’s support have taken on distinct service-oriented and institution-oriented characteristics. Enterprises are increasingly focusing on the smooth financial system and clear rule of law and market rules of the free trade port under customs clearance conditions. ASEAN enterprises, especially those from Malaysia, have shifted their overall perception of the Hainan Free Trade Port from early conceptual understanding to a judgment phase oriented toward functional evaluation and decision-making feasibility. Enterprises are re-examining its potential role and practical value from dimensions such as institutional interfaces, supply chain nodes, and operational pathways for entering the Chinese mainland market. The policy “visibility” of the Hainan Free Trade Port among ASEAN enterprises has basically become evident.
At Hainan Bielefeld University of Applied Sciences in Yangpu, students attend class. Photo by Hainan Daily All-Media Reporter Zhang Mao
Awareness and Investment Intentions Gradually Increasing. Survey results show that over 70% of surveyed enterprises recognize Hainan’s strategic value as a “transshipment or re-export platform” for entering the Chinese mainland market. Enterprises generally have formed a relatively clear understanding of Hainan’s potential functions in terms of geographical advantages, policy positioning, and institutional innovation directions, and have given positive evaluations of its role in China’s high-level opening-up landscape.
Most enterprises have reached a consensus that “Hainan has important strategic significance and is worth continuous attention.” The current focus is gradually shifting toward “how Hainan can be more efficiently utilized in actual operations and business layouts,” laying a good foundation for the next phase of promoting enterprises from observation to substantive participation by further clarifying institutional interfaces, operational guidelines, and application scenarios.
Decision-Making Logic Shifts to Institutional Operability and Practical Use Value. In the process of evaluating entry into the Chinese market, factors such as regulations and approval processes, technical standard alignment, and market information acquisition have become key operational issues of concern to enterprises. Further strengthening institutional explanations, operational guidelines, and service support will help more fully unleash policy advantages, transforming enterprises’ cognitive recognition into actual investment and business activities.
Hainan Becomes an Important Institutional Interface for ASEAN Enterprises to Connect with the Chinese Market. Hainan’s core appeal lies in providing enterprises with an entry channel with relatively low institutional friction and clear operational pathways. Especially for ASEAN enterprises entering the Chinese market for the first time or in stages, they expect Hainan to function as a “buffer zone” and “interface zone” in areas such as institutional interpretation, approval coordination, technical standard alignment, and cross-border fund arrangements.
Enterprise Feedback
Using “Operational Pathway Explanations“ to Boost ASEAN Enterprises’ Actual Deployment
Financial support and convenience, rule of law and market environment construction, and systematic policy interpretation and guidance mechanisms are universally regarded by enterprises as core conditions for enhancing decision-making confidence. This survey shows that the Hainan Free Trade Port has established a relatively solid foundation of policy awareness among ASEAN enterprises. Enterprises’ expectations of Hainan have clearly shifted from “having policies” to “policies being applicable long-term and having someone to assist with implementation.”
ASEAN enterprises believe that the next phase of external promotion and investment attraction strategies for the Hainan Free Trade Port should shift more from “policy list introductions” to “operational pathway explanations.” By using specific cases, scenario-based guidance, and one-stop coordination mechanisms, enterprises can understand “how to set up in Hainan, how to enter the mainland through Hainan, and how to control risks in compliance and operations,” thereby converting potential recognition into substantive investment and cooperation.
Based on interview feedback from multinational chambers of commerce and corporate management, the Hainan Free Trade Port is now widely understood as an “institutional project” rather than a single industrial park or tax haven. Surveyed enterprises generally believe that Hainan’s strategic significance lies not in replicating mature free port models like Hong Kong or Singapore, but in exploring a feasible path for higher-level opening-up with Chinese characteristics.
The scene at the 6th China International Consumer Products Expo was bustling with activity. Photo by Hainan Daily All-Media Reporter Chen Yuancai
Against the backdrop of RCEP’s implementation and China’s continued promotion of regional economic and trade cooperation, Hainan is seen as an important southward institutional interface connecting China’s domestic demand market with ASEAN economies. Its policy direction shows high strategic consistency with regional integration trends. In the eyes of ASEAN enterprises, Hainan has completed the transformation from an “unfamiliar policy concept” to a “potential institutional entry point.”
From the feedback of ASEAN enterprises, those represented by enterprises from Cambodia, Myanmar, and other countries, which have long focused on export manufacturing, agricultural products, or resource-based industries, generally pay more attention to Hainan Free Trade Port’s “intermediary” function of reducing the institutional costs of entering the Chinese market from the perspective of global supply chain reconfiguration.
Enterprises hope that Hainan can accelerate the certification and approval processes needed for products to enter the Chinese mainland market, and provide clear and stable institutional arrangements for processing value addition, re-export, and domestic sales integration.
For enterprises from countries like Laos, which have highly integrated economic and trade relations with China, Hainan’s appeal lies in its ability to provide calculable and quantifiable added value on top of existing bilateral or multilateral institutional arrangements. Such enterprises are more inclined to expect that after entering Hainan, the overall tax burden will be significantly lower than existing pathways, customs clearance times and administrative processes will see substantial reductions, and relevant institutional arrangements will have long-term stability.
At the institutional and legal levels, ASEAN enterprises’ judgments show high consistency. Multiple respondents clearly pointed out that the key factor truly influencing investment decisions is the credibility, stability, and predictability of the institutions themselves.
From the enterprise perspective, the prerequisites for entering Hainan are concentrated in: transparent and predictable market access rules, stable tax and tariff arrangements that remain consistent in actual operations, clear and feasible mechanisms for cross-border capital flows, profit repatriation, and currency exchange, and dispute resolution mechanisms with internationally acceptable legal safeguards. These factors together constitute the core dimensions for enterprises to assess institutional risk.
Compared to SMEs or export-oriented enterprises, most surveyed regional leading enterprises, when evaluating Hainan, clearly focus beyond short-term costs and policy incentives, turning to longer-term structural issues. Such enterprises generally believe that the core elements of future regional competition are shifting from traditional cost advantages to technological capabilities, talent systems, and the completeness of the industrial ecosystem.
This long-term perspective suggests that Hainan’s institutional design not only needs to address “how to enter China” but also must further respond to the strategic proposition of “how to develop long-term and achieve continuous upgrading in China.” For large enterprises, possessing such long-term development space is often more important than short-term policy dividends.
Integrating the judgments of different types of enterprises from various countries, a highly consistent conclusion can be drawn: the investment value of the Hainan Free Trade Port has been widely recognized by ASEAN enterprises. Hainan is both an important window for China to promote high-level opening-up and a significant platform for testing institutional capabilities facing the international market. Different types of enterprises all expect Hainan to provide them with “operational pathway explanations” to help them carry out actual deployments in China, especially in the Hainan Free Trade Port.
Prospects and Expectations
Building an Institutional Channel for ASEAN Enterprises to Enter the Chinese Market That Is “Clear to See, Steady to Walk, and Practical to Use“
Given the survey’s focus on Malaysian enterprises and chambers of commerce as the primary observation targets, Dr. Pan Rongde, Senior Advisor for Hainan-ASEAN International Communication at the Hainan International Communication Center and Secretary-General of the ASEAN-China Economic and Trade Development Promotion Association, pointed out that this is a realistic judgment based on institutional communication pathways. As Hainan’s mainstream international communication institution, the Hainan International Communication Center has established its first Southeast Asian liaison center in Kuala Lumpur, indicating its role as a “hub” in the framework of promoting regional economic and trade exchanges and cooperation through media bridges.
Regarding the survey’s focus on SMEs, Li Rongchang, Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus, noted that large enterprises often already have investments in China, with decisions revolving more around “adjustments”; SMEs are more sensitive to institutional uncertainty and better reflect the real audience the Hainan Free Trade Port faces.
On the shift from “incentive intensity” to “institutional credibility,” Li Rongchang believes that enterprises care more about policy stability. The Hainan Free Trade Port can continuously demonstrate the predictability of its institutional commitments to further enhance its appeal to ASEAN enterprises.
Pan Rongde believes that Hainan’s institutional value lies in providing a low-cost, flexible, and risk-controllable institutional buffer space. Li Rongchang added that in the current context, enterprises generally adopt a “de-risking” strategy. If Hainan is seen as an “experimental platform,” its appeal becomes more realistic.
Pan Rongde also stated that Hainan’s institutional design advantages—low thresholds, relatively clear policy frameworks, and the transit node function for entering the Chinese mainland market—make it well-positioned to attract ASEAN SMEs.
At the cognitive level, ASEAN enterprises have incorporated the Hainan Free Trade Port into their evaluation framework for the Chinese market, showing rational and positive perceptions based on geographical conditions, institutional design, and regional cooperation trends.
Hainan, connecting the Chinese mainland while facing ASEAN and the broader international market, has the institutional potential to host two-way factor flows. If it continues to improve institutional arrangements in financial convenience, rule of law environment, policy interpretation, and cross-border operations, Hainan is expected to become one of the key fulcrums for ASEAN enterprises entering the Chinese market during the restructuring of regional industrial and supply chains.
At the policy communication level, it is recommended to strengthen scenario-based, operational policy interpretation mechanisms around institutional issues of concern to enterprises. Through case studies, advance rulings, and one-stop consulting, further enhance enterprises’ understanding of the Hainan Free Trade Port system, provide more “operational pathway explanations,” and offer more services for their entry into the Chinese market.
At the cooperation mechanism level, exploring the use of Hainan as a platform to build government-enterprise dialogue and regional cooperation networks, forming normalized mechanisms in areas such as financial services, standard alignment, industrial collaboration, and talent mobility, can turn the Hainan Free Trade Port into an institutional channel for ASEAN enterprises to enter the Chinese market that is “clear to see, steady to walk, and practical to use.”