Sometimes jokingly referred to as the Hawaii of China, Hainan has been the southernmost territory of China since its incorporation into Han rule 2 000 years ago. Being so remote, it was known as a place to exile political prisoners. With China being a historical land power and all its energy focused on the heartland of the Middle Kingdom, Hainan served practically no strategic interest and was scarcely ever coveted by foreign powers.  All this changed, however, when China was forced to face the sea when the westerners staked their claim to their Coastline in the 19th century. Since then, up until the present day, Hainan has been used to project power into the sea as it serves as China’s only major island possession. During Deng Xiaoping’s economic reform program, he made the island into the country’s largest special economic zone. Again in 2020, it was announced that the island would become a free trade port. Unlike throughout most of its neglected history, Hainan now serves a critical geostrategic importance to China as it’s China’s way of projecting itself into the South China sea, and thus Hainan has China’s largest naval base. Being the only part of China that is distinctly part of Southeast Asia, it’s through Hainan that China joins the geostrategic interests of the southeast Asia region.
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