Hainan is also a paradise for starting up enterprises, full of opportunities. To be objective, 20 years of relentless efforts have blessed the island with conditions and foundations for a new round of rapid development. Especially in recent years, it has played a more and more important role in promoting the development of the pan-Pearl River Delta region, the Beibu Gulf rim, the China ASEAN Free Trade Zone, the rest of Asia and even the world as a whole. It also faces many new opportunities for further development. For investors, it is a wonderland endowed with inexhaustible vitality, opportunities and hopes.

Hainan is well-known for its beautiful ecological environment. Much attention has been drawn to the quality of its ecosystem. Does that put any pressure on Hainan's development? How can it strike a balance between economic development and environment protection?

It's unrealistic to rule out any pressure. Hainan has undergone remarkable changes through 20 years of development as a province and a special economic zone, but it is positioned at the primary stages of development. Hainan, as an independent geographic region, would lose its lifeblood for further development and its biggest advantage in regional competition if its ecological environment were destroyed, though underdevelopment remains a major problem facing the province.

We are strongly resolved to beef up the pace of development, even though it's an arduous task for us. We take a firm and explicit approach to the relationship between economic development and environmental protection. At any time and under any circumstances, Hainan would by no means seek economic development at the cost of environment. We must attach equal importance to economic development and environmental protection.

As early as 1999, we became the pioneer in China to raise the idea of building an ecological province, and strictly push it through. Tightened efforts have been made since to protect the economic environment, develop an environmentally friendly economy and foster ecological cultures. We are also embarking on the building of ecological villages. Some 33.4 percent of the province's natural villages have become civilized ecological villages, laying a solid foundation for the construction of a sustainable society. Besides this, we also made dedicated efforts to conduct a stringent protection system for the natural environment, establish a compensation mechanism for the ecological environment, and actively implement all measures for environmental protection.

We encourage large enterprises and large projects to take a leading role in spurring the all-round development of the province. We also rely on hi-tech enterprises for rapid development. We resolutely oppose the outdated thought of "pollution first and treatment later," which features large-scale, low-level and destructive resource exploration through small enterprises, small projects and townships and village enterprises.

It's notable that we have retained a sound ecological environment while accomplishing rapid economic progress in recent years. In the central mountainous area, the virgin rain forests are well preserved, and the disrupted belts have been restored in coastal areas. Hainan's forest coverage rate has climbed to 57 percent. Its quality of environment, including air and water, always gains leading positions in the country.

With rich tourism resources, Hainan is a vacation resort. But it still remains unknown to overseas tourists in many countries. What do you think of that?

As the only tropical island province of China, Hainan is rich in unique tourism resources. Along the eastern coast of the island, there are scores of bays in various styles from Haikou in the north to Sanya in the south, including the Tongguling Bay at Wenchang, Yudai Beach at Boao, Shimei Bay at Wanning, Qingshui Bay at Lingshui, and Haitang Bay and Yalong Bay at Sanya. With crystal blue sky and a scenic coastal landscape, Hainan Island is unique even in the world. It has been compared to internationally renowned vacation resorts such as Phuket Island in Thailand, Komodo Island in Indonesia and Hawaii.

Having just celebrated its 20th birthday this year, Hainan is the youngest province of China. The past several years saw its tourism development begin to speed up. The island is attracting more and more overseas tourists, with its growth rate of overseas tourists far exceeding that of domestic tourists. 2007 was the year of tourism promotion for Hainan Province, marked by strengthened efforts to promote and internationalize its tourism elements. We even actively went out to invite foreign expertise to help with marketing. For example, on the Pan-Pearl River Delta Forum, we joined hands with Hong Kong to stage tourist routes of one trip and several stops, to promote smooth traveling around the whole region.

We also organized an activity, "the Day of Hainan," during the Year of China in Russia to promote Hainan as a tourist destination there and its bordering countries like Ukraine. Meanwhile, we have cooperated with large enterprises, major airlines and large travel agencies. The number of international flights to Hainan has risen to 44, and more than 20 world top holiday hotel brands have found their way to Hainan, including Sheraton, Marriott, Hilton, Kempinski and Shangri-la.

Our promotional efforts have yielded results, with many tourists from overseas like Russia opting for Sanya as their priority vacation resort. The island received 151,000 Russian tourists in 2007, representing a yearly growth of 77 percent. Japanese and South Korean golf fans have frequented Hainan, where 16 golf courses are located along its southeast coastline. Nowadays, travel to Hainan is fashionable not only among the Chinese, but also among more and more foreigners.

This year, the State Council has authorized the province to set up tax-free shops in Haikou, Sanya, Qionghai and Wanning, respectively. New breakthroughs in open-sky and visa-free policies are also to be expected. Our next step is to simplify and improve Customs clearance procedures and requirements, create satisfactory shopping environments for tourists and enrich the tourism products of the province. No efforts will be spared to build a top-class tourist hot spot for tourists from home and abroad. We believe that in the near future, Hainan, the shining pearl of south China, will rise to a holiday paradise for tourists from all over the world.

Hainan has two thirds of China's ocean territory under its administration. How will the province bring this advantage into full force?

Covering 70 percent of the surface area of the globe, the ocean is a food depot and reserve of energy resources for mankind. Following technological upgrades and social progress, a new era of ocean exploration is coming.

Hainan has two thirds of the nation's ocean territory under its administration, and therefore has advantages in developing the ocean economy. Boasting rich oil, gas, minerals, ocean energy and halobios resources, as well as fine harbors, Hainan Island is indeed a "blue cornucopia." Along a coastline of over 1,500 km, the island has 68 natural harbors and over 200,000 square meters of fishing grounds along the edge of the continental shelf with the depth of water of no more than 200 meters. In the long run, the ocean economy will become the fourth pillar industry of Hainan, besides its high-efficiency tropic agriculture, emerging modern industry and tourism featuring beach resorts for holiday entertainment and leisure.

However, Hainan is still at the initial stage of developing an ocean economy and is yet to take its abundant reserves of resources into full use.

As the only province in China authorized by the Central Government to have marine jurisdiction, Hainan will put stress on developing sea fishing, transportation, tourism and biochemical pharmaceuticals in the coming future. The general goal is to build Hainan into a production and processing base of healthy and safe seafood and a regional logistics and shipping center, so as to make Hainan a province with strengths in the ocean economy.

What will be the status and function of Hainan on the national economic landscape of the future?

The most remarkable contribution Hainan has made in the past two decades lies with its active and constructive reform experiments, through which Hainan accumulated rich experience and established itself as China's largest SEZ.