Hong Kong should not miss opportunities given by 14th Five-Year Plan

Most of the opinions from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) government on the SAR in the 14th Five-year Plan have been accepted by the central government, Carrie Lam, Chief Executive of Hong Kong, said on the evening of March 5.

Lam, who is in Beijing for the Two Sessions, also revealed that the content related to Hong Kong in the plan exceeded 500 words. She said she was told by mainland officials that for a five-year plan to include the vision of a central authority, province or a city, every character is worth a thousand pieces of gold.

She shared the news on an SNS platform, after the draft outline of the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) for national economic and social development and the long-range objectives through the year 2035 was submitted to the Fourth Session of the 13th NPC for deliberation on the same day.

China made remarkable achievements in its economic and social development in the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-2020). The country provided Hong Kong with a huge amount of support and a broad stage for participating in the construction of the Belt and Road Initiative and developing the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and unveiled a series of policies and measures aimed at giving greater convenience to people from Hong Kong and Macao looking to work and start businesses in the mainland.

Over the past five years, Hong Kong has sped up its integration into China’s overall development, and played a greater role in the country’s economic development and opening-up. More Hong Kong residents have chosen to study, work and start businesses in the mainland.

Predictably, the country will give greater support for the development of the SAR, and the city will embrace more development opportunities.

After the central government put forward the proposals for formulating the 14th Five-Year Plan, quite a few Hong Kong enterprises worked proactively to grasp the opportunities afforded by the 14th Five-Year period.

Furthermore, visionary people from Hong Kong have contributed their wisdom, and hope that the SAR will further integrate itself into the country’s overall development, make use of the strengths of its traditional advantageous industries, and strengthen layout in emerging sectors, so as to achieve leapfrog development in the next five years.

Hong Kong now faces problems such as tight land supply, monotonous industrial structure, decelerating economic growth, housing shortage and an ageing population, which have been exacerbated by the turbulence caused by the amendment bill in 2019 and the COVID-19 pandemic.

These problems must be addressed in a holistic and coordinated way through development, rather than in a piecemeal and palliative approach, with the long-term development of the city taken into consideration.

The city should by no means miss these opportunities, as a growing number of economies around the world are making plans for future development and the mainland is advancing towards the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) for National Economic and Social Development and the Long-Range Objectives Through the Year 2035.

Fully grasping the opportunities requires implementation. After Hong Kong's return to China, the government of the SAR has encountered stiff resistance in tackling deep-seated problems such as supply of land, housing, and industrial transformation, due to the political atmosphere and loopholes in its system.

Particularly in recent years, both domestic and external anti-China forces have colluded with each other to obstruct the administration of the government of the SAR, and even sought to grab the power to administer Hong Kong.

In light of this situation, the central government adopted the national security law, and will improve the electoral system, in order to ensure the administration of Hong Kong by Hong Kong people with patriots as the main body, as well as the effective and law-based administration in the SAR.

Once Hong Kong ends the chaos, resumes stability, and fully implements the principle of "patriots administering Hong Kong", we have every reason to believe the city will embrace the 14th Five-year Plan, draw a blueprint that fits with the blueprint of the country, seize more opportunities, play a bigger role, and most importantly, open up new prospects.