Starting a new Hainan airline is a good idea - Shaun Rein

Shaun Rein

While birds are taking over many international airports, China's second largest airline company China Eastern has launched a new airliner with a focus on its touristic Hainan. Business analyst Shaun Rein argues this is actually a good idea, even though much of the airline industry is still on its back after the coronavirus crisis, he tells at the BBC. 

BBC:

Shaun Rein, founder of the China Market Research Group, said it was actually a good time to start a new airline focused on Hainan.
"Even before Covid, 2020 was the year of domestic Chinese tourism as China wants to focus more on seeing their own country, especially hot spots like Hainan, Yunnan and emerging ones like Gansu."
He added that the US-China trade war has seen "emerging patriotism with Chinese citizens wanting to show their children how great their country is and to teach them more about its heritage".
Meanwhile, ongoing pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong have discouraged many Chinese travellers from visiting the former British colony.
"Hainan itself as a destination is hot right now, especially as the government supports duty-free shopping there. Hainan also has no quarantine or other travel restrictions."

More at the BBC.

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Hainan: visa for talents - William Bao Bean

William Bao Bean

Bureaucratic rules have hampered China's access to international talents, for example, because of troublesome rules on visas for experts. But Hainan is going to do this better, says innovation expert and managing director of the Chinaccelarator in Shanghai William Bao Bean to the South China Morning Post.

The South China Morning Post:

Another key piece of the start-up puzzle is access to talent. While Hainan introduced a visa free policy in May 2018, allowing visitors from 59 countries – including the US, the UK, France, Germany, and Japan to stay for up to 30 days – a tech hub it needs more engineers, not beachgoers. 

So the red tape previously involved in getting a working visa has been streamlined for professionals. “If you’re a foreigner without a bachelor’s degree and you want to start up something in China, it’s almost impossible for you to get a working visa in big cities like Beijing, but it’s possible to get one in Hainan,” said William Bao Bean, a general partner at SOSV.

More in the South China Morning Post.

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Can Hainan become China's Silicon Valley? - Jim Rogers

Jim Rogers

US investor Jim Rogers visited on January 8th the Hainan Global Fintech Innovation Summit and explored the possibilities of the island to become China's Silicon Valley at Contact Hainan. "You have fabulous weather, you have a fabulous lifestyle in Hainan if you continue to open up, and make it easy for people to come here, Hainan probably will become the greatest place in China."

Contact Hainan:

"I’m always considering investing everywhere, especially in China, if I can find a good management in Hainan, smart people and they have a good idea, it doesn’t matter whether it’s agriculture, or soap, or technology, it depends on the people with a good idea", he said. 

Jim Rogers is also very interested in the construction of Hainan Free Trade Zone, he said: "Hainan has smart people, zone, it has everything you need, so does Shanghai, so does Shenzhen, if you can get all the smart people here, then you’ll be the Silicon Valley." 

Rogers also shared his suggestions for Hainan in terms of opening up and attracting talents. "You have fabulous weather, you have a fabulous lifestyle in Hainan if you continue to open up, and make it easy for people to come here, Hainan probably will become the greatest place in China. The people I met in Hainan are very smart, so I have great expectations," he said.

More at Contact Hainan.

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What if gambling takes off on Hainan? - Sara Hsu

Sara Hsu

The debate is taking off on whether China would allow gambling on Hainan Island. Financial analyst Sara Hsu explains gambling would diversify the tourism industry on the island, but would also hurt the economy in nearby Macau. Two earlier efforts on Hainan were already aborted for political reasons.

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The Boao forum: a stepping stone in China's global policies - Shaun Rein

Shaun Rein

The ongoing Boao Forum in Hainan never attracted as much attention as this year, as China's global aspirations expand, and US president Donald Trump is heading for a trade war, says business analyst Shaun Rein, author of The War for China's Wallet: Profiting from the New World Order to the South China Morning Post.

The South China Morning Post:

Shaun Rein, the founder of the China Market Research Group, said this year’s event was more significant than ever because of the “potential for a massive trade war between the US and China”. 

“And there is a lot of concern about whether China is going to be open for foreign business, and what [incentives] it might dole out to Europe and Asia as a way to keep the US down,” he said... 

Rein, who is also the author of The War for China’s Wallet, said he expected China to try and lure countries attending Boao with “sweeteners”, adding that he expected there to be a spike in new trade deals between China and its guests as Beijing sought to show the world that it did not need the US. 

“There is an opportunity for Xi to show that it’s business as normal, and calm a market that has been stirred up by what Trump is doing,” he said.

More in the South China Morning Post.

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China challenges US surveillance practices - Wendell Minnick

Wendell Minnick

When a Chinese J-11 fighter challenged a US Navy P-8 Poseidon on Aug. 19 near Hainan Island, it triggered off a debate on the way the US performs its surveillance strategy, writes defense analyst Wendell Minnick in Defense News.

Wendell Minnick:

US analysts indicate that what China really objects to is America’s place in Asia. Put in these terms, China’s demand that the US cease close-in surveillance operations poses a stark choice: Pursue a cordial and more equal relationship with China vs. maintaining America’s dominant position in Asia. What China is telegraphing to the United States is that it cannot have it both ways. This gets to the heart of American primacy and its role in the world. 

“Chinese leaders are seeking to expand their influence over their periphery by building up, establishing new terms of reference for what is allowed and normal, tranquilizing neighbors into accepting growing Chinese hegemony, and supplanting US power,” said Patrick Cronin, senior director of the Asia-Pacific Security Program, Center for a New American Security... 

US spy boats and aircraft have long been a source of intrigue and crisis in American military history and many have resulted in embarrassment or the deaths of US military personnel. North Korea’s capture of the USS Pueblo in 1968, the Israeli attack on the USS Liberty in 1967, the Soviet shootdown of a CIA U-2 spy plane flown by Gary Powers in 1960, and the 2001 Hainan Island incident involving a US Navy EP-3 aircraft and a Chinese J-8 fighter, all serve as notice of the dangers of snooping too close.

  More in Defense News.

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Yacht sales having a tough year - Wei Gu

+Wei Gu 

Sales of yachts in China are under pressure, WSJ wealth editor Wei Gu notes at the Hainan Rendez-Vous, caused by China´s anti-corruption drive at the China Real Time of the WSJ. It did not help that last year sex-and-drugs stories emerged from the 2013 fair.

Wei Gu:

The number of exhibitors this year at Hainan Rendez-Vous dropped to 72, down from 90 exhibitors last year, when exhibitors included a wider range of top luxury brands including Aston Martin, Chopard and IWC Schaffhausen. 

Set against the backdrop of the southern Chinese island’s palm trees and sand, Hainan Rendez-Vous, now in its fifth year, suffered a reputational hit in China after pictures of sex and drug parties flooded the Internet in 2013. 

Such  challenges for the trade show have been exacerbated by President Xi Jinping’s austerity drive among China’s elite officials. Since the anti-corruption push was launched, taking out a government official out for a day on a private yacht has become less socially accepted, reducing the value of such vessels in China.

More at the Wall Street Journal.

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Golf for the masses at Hainan - Wei Gu

Wei Gu

Golf operator Mission Hills is opening a large public golf course at Haikou at Hainan island, to tap into China´s huge domestic tourism industry. WSJ wealth editor Wei Gu talks to Ken Chu, CEO of the Mission Hills Group on how to involve more than the current 5 million Chinese golf players in this sector.

By offering wellness, leisure, and even an affiliation with the London School of Economics the Mission Hills Group is diverting from the traditional membership structure of golf clubs, offering facilities for the whole family.

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