摘要
When China announced that it would “seal customs operations” in Hainan,the phrase travelled poorly beyond its borders. To many foreign readers, the term sounds defensive, even restrictive—as if an island were being closed off at a time when the global economy urgently needs openness.From Southeast Asia, however, the policy looks less like retreat and more like revelation.It shines light on how China’s understanding of openness has evolved—shaped not by slogans, but by the trade frictions of recent years. What is unfolding in Hainan is not an attempt to close an island, but an effort to define,with unusual precision, where openness begins and how it is sustained.
