Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, delivers a speech at a gathering celebrating the 30th anniversary of the founding of Hainan Province and the Hainan Special Economic Zone in south China's Hainan Province, April 13, 2018. (Xinhua/Xie Huanchi)

HAIKOU, April 13 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping announced Friday a decision to build the whole island of Hainan into a pilot free trade zone.

The Communist Party of China Central Committee has decided to support Hainan in building the whole island into a pilot free trade zone, gradually exploring and steadily promoting the establishment of a free trade port with Chinese characteristics, and promulgating policies and institutional systems for the free trade port step by step and in stages, Xi said at a gathering celebrating the 30th anniversary of the founding of Hainan Province and the Hainan Special Economic Zone.

Xi urged the province to give priority to opening up, implement a more proactive opening-up strategy, speed up the establishment of a new system for open economy, and promote the formation of a new pattern of opening up in an all-round way.

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