HAIKOU, China – With tariffs rising around the world and US President Donald Trump vowing an end to decades of globalisation, China’s leadership is trumpeting a tropical island as proof that it is moving in the opposite direction.

The island of Hainan – a province of China off the country’s southern coast 50 times the size of Singapore – last month scrapped tariffs on most imports, slashed corporate and individual taxes, and declared itself the world’s largest “free trade port”. China declared it an emblem of its readiness for two-way trade with the world.