Aerial photo taken on April 4, 2020 shows the Atlantis resort in Sanya, south China's Hainan Province. (Photo: Xinhua)

Never resort to words like “this doesn’t work” or “that’s not practicable”, but show the courage to surmount all obstacles – like those who cut paths through the mountains and build bridges across the rivers, and strive to push the progress of project construction forward.

To speed up the construction of Hainan Free Trade Port is a major historical mission entrusted to us by the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core. We must follow the timeline set by the Master Plan and complete all goals and tasks at a fast yet steady pace, with none of a second in time wasted. Our input today will turn into output tomorrow; therefore, we must see to it that high-quality and high-standard requirements are implemented throughout each project and reflected in each link of the process.

First, for all projects to be built, a better eco-environment must be reflected instead of a worsened one. Without a sound eco-environment, there will be no free trade port at all. We must always firmly adhere to the philosphy that "green mountains and clear waters are equal to mountains of gold and silver” and insist on utilizing the most appealing resources to attract the most qualified investors. Should there be any impact on and damage to the environment, no matter how high a tax income the project will bring, we will never nod assent, not to allow any indiscriminate acceptance of incoming investment.

Second, for all projects to be built, high quality and high standards must be reflected. Investment promotion is not a simple road-paving and project-building job, but requires overall planning and elaborate selection of projects. We must pay equal attention to speeding up tangible, hard investment and strengthening intangible, soft investment. We must keep in line with the experience drawn from the world’s highest-level free trade ports, with the requirements of trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, with the need for building a smart Hainan, and with the principle of "ensuring a whole-of-province response and across-island urbanization", so as to create a modern infrastructure system that is intensive and efficient, economical and applicable, smart and green, safe and reliable and globally competitive.

Third, for all projects to be built, optimization of the economic structure must be reflected. We must continue to stick to the strategic positioning of Hainan as "three zones and one center", give full play to the strengths and characteristics of Hainan, and put emphasis on cultivating and expanding industries with a scale of hundreds of billion yuan in output such as tourism, internet, marine industry, and tropical high-efficiency agriculture. We must accelerate reform and innovation of the 11 key parks such as Yangpu, and strive to build key industrial parks into major platforms and carriers for investment in high-quality and high-standard projects, and into "quantity links" for creating flows and "bright spots" for highlighting practical achievements.

Fourth, for all projects to be built, the ability for government officials to start a business and get jobs done must be reflected. The spirit of taking responsibility and getting things done among government officials at all levels could be cultivated and reflected during the investment promotion effort, while a stage for them to display their talents, achieve careers, and realize value could also be provided during the project construction process. Faced with a new situation in the free trade port’s construction, officials at all levels must dare to take responsibility and make their own contribution. We must put in more efforts in field study and investigation, and never resort to words like “this doesn’t work” or “that’s not practicable”, but show the courage to surmount all obstacles – like those who cut paths through the mountains and build bridges across the rivers, and strive to push the progress of project construction forward.

Fifth, for all projects to be built, a world-class business environment must be reflected. Officials at all levels should work with entrepreneurs with an open mind and in a clean fashion, listen to their opinions on industrial development, and help solve difficulties in the process of project landing. We must strengthen institutional integration and innovation and make greater efforts to remove the institutional and systematic barriers that hinder the flow of production factors. We must uphold the rule of law in the first place, and equally protect the property rights and independent management rights of both domestic and foreign-funded enterprises and businesses with various types of ownership in accordance with the law. We must wholeheartedly relieve difficulties and address problems for various types of market players and stimulate market vitality to an even larger extent.

Sixth, for all projects to be built, testing of officials at all levels must be reflected. As the construction cause advances in depth, an increasing amount of risks and temptations will follow. Officials at all levels must exercise their power in an appropriate way, and while they should take a bold, active and engaged approach to coordinate, serve, and support engineering projects, they must at the same time act in a clean way in dealing with entrepreneurs and project owners, thus building a new type of clean and close political-business relationship. Officials at all levels must withstand the test of a correct outlook on political achievements and generate real and pragmatic results, instead of playing false and empty tricks, or pursuing any "political achievements on digits" that leave burden and hidden risks behind.

Seventh, for all projects to be built, the enhancement of people's sense of gain, happiness, and security must be reflected. To build a people-centered free trade port in Hainan, we must not only let the people of Hainan achieve a strong sense of gain, happiness, and security, but also get the people of the whole country and enterprises and talents from all over the world who invest, innovate and start businesses here to share the opportunities and welfare during the development of Hainan as a free trade port.

(Speech by Liu Cigui, Secretary of the Hainan Provincial Party Committee, at the on-site observation meeting in Haikou on promoting high-quality and high-standard investment across Hainan.)