Hainan Island is about to be closed, and Russia is determined: to seize this difficult opportunity.
Hainan is about to close the entire island.
There are only 2 months left before the entire island of Hainan is closed on December 18, 2025. However, Russia urgently submitted the "China-Russia Agreement on the Promotion and Mutual Protection of Investment" to the State Duma for review at this time;
On the one hand, it is the institutional breakthrough of Hainan's "domestic customs clearance and external customs clearance", and on the other hand, it is the protection of the rights and interests of Sino-Russian investment. Behind the intensive promotion of the two measures, what problems does Russia want to solve through Hainan's customs closure?
About this, from a recent report in the Russian Business Consultancy, one or two can be spotted.
The report pointed out that The launch of the island-wide closure of China's Hainan Island Free Trade Port will open up huge opportunities for Russian companies。
For companies that cooperate with China, it will bring significant benefits.
Russian media: Russian companies will benefit from Hainan Free Trade Port's entire island embargo operation
First of all, Hainan's customs closure is not an "island closure", but a rule design of "liberalizing the front line and controlling the second line" to create one of the special areas with the highest level of openness in the world.
According to the official definition,"front-line liberalization" means that all "zero-tariff" goods will be released except for goods that need to be quarantined in accordance with the law or some goods that require a permit.
"Second-line control" refers to the implementation of routine customs supervision on goods entering the mainland from Hainan.
This optimized design has just stamped the pain points facing Russian companies for a long time.
Taking as an example the class of 6,600 zero tariff goods, covering equipment, raw materials, and pharmaceutical products that Russian companies focus on, the scope of the previous 1900 class has been greatly expanded.
busy port, container exhibition port
This is equivalent to when Russian companies invest in Hainan, nearly 70% of imported goods can be directly exempted from tariff costs.
And after the Hainan embargo, not only will the proportion of "zero tariff" commodities rise to 74%, but the corporate income tax will also be reduced to 15%, further reducing the operating costs of foreign enterprises.
Russia is keeping a close eye on Hainan at this time, essentially to break through the current geopolitical and economic difficulties.
Affected by Western sanctions, Russia's core export categories such as energy and agricultural products face channel bottlenecks-
European market restrictions on Russian energy imports continue, and Russian wheat, meat and other agricultural products often encounter non-tariff barriers when entering the European and American markets.
In order to hedge risks, Russia has been trying to expand the Asia-Pacific market in recent years, but the problems of high logistics costs and difficult policy docking have always existed.
Russian energy exports
Hainan's closure brings Russia's "springboard advantage" in docking with the Asia-Pacific region.
Geographically, Hainan is located on the southern coast of China, connecting the consumer market of China’s 1.4 billion people and close to Southeast Asian economies.
After Russian companies land in Hainan, they can not only easily enter mainland China, but also radiate to Southeast Asian markets through the trade agreement between Hainan and ASEAN.
The Kazan-Sia route, which resumed in March this year, also provided logistical support for this "hopping plate effect".
The promotion of the China-Russia Investment Agreement has added "double insurance" for Russian companies to invest in Hainan.
At present, the Putin government has submitted formal agreement documents to the Russian State Duma for ratification.
You can also see from this action that The Russian side has already done the preparatory work in advance, and it is necessary to seize the opportunity ahead, to optimize the cost of Russian enterprises through the Hainan embargo and test new transport routes.
Russian President Vladimir Putin
For Russia, the reason why Hainan's opportunity to close customs is "once-in-a-lifetime" is that it can form synergy with the development of the Russian Far East.
Russia's Far East region has rich oil and gas and mineral resources, but is limited by local processing capacity, more exported in the form of raw materials, and low added value.
If Russian enterprises transport resources from the Far East to Hainan, they rely on Hainan's "zero tariff" policy to build a processing base, and process raw materials into high value-added products after domestic sales or exports.
It can not only enhance the economic value of resources, but also drive employment and industrial development in the Far East.
This cooperation model "from resources to processing to markets" is exactly the economic growth point that Russia urgently needs.
Sino-Russian relations
At present, with only two months left before Hainan is closed, Russia's actions have sent a clear signal: From submitting an investment agreement for consideration, to pushing companies to visit Hainan, the Russian side is taking advantage of this huge opportunity.
For Russia, the blockade of Hainan is not only a policy dividend acquisition, but also a key option to break through geological difficulties and connect to the Asia-Pacific market, and this option will also open new spaces for China-Russia economic and trade cooperation.