On April 13, 2018, when President Xi Jinping announced that China would support Hainan, a tropical island about the size of Taiwan province off China's southern coast, in exploring the creation of a free trade port with Chinese characteristics, the message traveled far beyond China's southern shores.

It reached Atyrau, a city on Kazakhstan's Caspian coast, where Ruslan Tulenov, then working at a local chemical company after spending more than a decade studying and living in China, followed the news closely.

The moment Xi's announcement was broadcast, Tulenov knew it was the right time for him to return to Hainan, where he had completed his undergraduate studies.

"I was constantly observing this country — how it developed and where it was heading," Tulenov recalled. "I wanted to find my own career chance in that process."

Speaking that day at the celebration of the 30th anniversary of the founding of Hainan province and the Hainan Special Economic Zone, Xi highlighted Hainan's special advantages, including its status as China's biggest SEZ, its unique geographic location and the best ecological environment in the country, as reasons to make it a test ground for reform and opening-up.

The decision to build a pilot free trade zone and eventually a free trade port was, Xi stressed, a major move by the Communist Party of China Central Committee to signal China's resolution of further opening up and promoting economic globalization.

On Thursday, the Hainan FTP will officially launch island-wide special customs operations — a move that Xi has described as a landmark step by China to unwaveringly expand high-standard opening-up and promote the development of an open world economy.

China's plan for the island's future also opened the door for young talent like Tulenov. When the Hainan International Economic Development Bureau, established in 2019, launched a global talent recruitment campaign, he applied right away.

The bureau is the first government agency of its kind at the provincial level dedicated to attracting global investment for the Hainan Free Trade Port.

After rounds of tests and interviews, the multilingual Kazakh became the bureau's first foreign employee, reflecting Hainan's growing international orientation.

As policies for the Hainan Free Trade Port continued to take shape, China released a master plan in June 2020 to build Hainan into a globally influential, high-level free trade port by the middle of the century.

The document said that supporting Hainan's construction of a free trade port system with Chinese characteristics is a significant move designed, arranged and promoted by Xi.

Two years later, in 2022, Tulenov found himself standing in the audience at the Yangpu Economic Development Zone in Hainan, listening as Xi spoke about Hainan's development path.

The province, Xi said, had spent decades debating its industrial positioning. Now, the priorities were clear: tourism, modern services, high-tech industries, and tropical high-efficiency agriculture, he said.

As China's only tropical province and a major maritime region, Hainan had natural advantages in developing these four industries. The four sectors already accounted for 67 percent of Hainan's GDP in 2024.

During that trip, Xi also raised expectations: Hainan would become a paradigm of reform and opening-up in the new era, he said.

At the China International Import Expo, the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference and the G20 Leaders' Summit, the Chinese president has, on many international occasions, highlighted China's efforts to develop the Hainan Free Trade Port and develop new systems for a higher-standard open economy. Xi said that all are welcome to share in the vast opportunities of the Chinese market.

In December last year and again this November, Xi returned to the province to hear detailed work reports from local officials — trips that highlighted the central leadership's close attention to the FTP's progress.

This focus is especially significant as the Hainan FTP will officially launch island-wide special customs operations on Thursday.

The shift will raise the share of zero-tariff goods in the Hainan FTP from 21 percent to 74 percent, while further opening sectors such as tourism, modern services and high-tech industries.

"The launch of island-wide special customs operations will provide Hainan with the foundational conditions to advance opening-up across a broader scope and at a deeper level," Xi said during his trip to Hainan last month, stressing the need to free minds, advance reform and explore new ground, and promote reform and opening-up across various sectors more proactively.

For Tulenov, each of Xi's visits carries a personal meaning. "Every time President Xi comes, we feel encouraged," he said.

As the International Economic Development Bureau's global press officer, Tulenov has traveled extensively, promoting Hainan's advantages to companies and investors across the world.

"I always tell them that Shenzhen was where China first opened to the world. Now Hainan is the next chapter," he said. "Personally, I benchmarked the FTP against Hong Kong and Singapore. I firmly believe Hainan will become a port like those — it just takes time and steady steps."

Thursday also marks the 47th anniversary of the third plenary session of the 11th CPC Central Committee — the milestone meeting that launched China's reform and opening-up. Observers said the latest move represents another significant step in the opening-up of the world's second-largest economy, even as unilateralism and protectionism intensify globally.

"The Hainan Free Trade Port occupies a uniquely prominent place in China's reform agenda," said Matteo Giovannini, an Asia-Global Fellow at the University of Hong Kong. It is one of the national strategies reaffirmed by President Xi, underscoring its role as a test ground for the next stage of high-level opening-up, he said.

Hainan's performance is likely to become a key reference for how China balances deeper openness with economic security amid global uncertainty, Giovannini said.

"Lessons from Hainan may inform reforms in areas such as cross-border capital flows, data governance, services trade and green finance, offering models that could be scaled up elsewhere," he said. "In this sense, Hainan is not just a regional experiment, but a signal of how China sees reform evolving under more complex external conditions."

Wang Ying, a researcher at the Academy of China Open Economy Studies at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing, said that the strategic emphasis placed on the Hainan FTP reflects China's confidence in its development path and commitment to globalization.

She said that the FTP, which serves as a platform for engagement with frameworks such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, and the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement, also signals China's determination to align with top-tier international trade rules.

By taking a pioneering approach, Hainan is positioned to contribute Chinese solutions to the evolution of international economic rules and help guide the development of global standards, Wang added.

Giovannini noted that Hainan is well positioned, both geographically and strategically, to become a connective node between China and Southeast Asia, with its focus on services trade, logistics, tourism, and digital and green industries closely matching ASEAN's growth priorities.

"If regulatory credibility and policy consistency are maintained, the FTP could evolve into a meaningful gateway for two-way flows of capital, talent and services, connecting China more deeply with ASEAN and other emerging markets," he said.

Contact the writers at mojingxi@chinadaily.com.cn