Under Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu’s leadership, Hong Kong is drawing up its first five-year plan to complement Beijing’s 2026-30 blueprint. A two-month public consultation exercise has just started. But what is the nation’s 15th five-year plan , why is it important and what’s Hong Kong’s role?
China’s five-year plan responds to “great changes unseen in a century”, prescient words used by President Xi Jinping since 2018. Chinese policymakers have anticipated headwinds in the world system, underscored by the upending of the “rules-based world order” by US President Donald Trump’s “law of the jungle” and a world increasingly threatened by climate change .
Recent China-US summits notwithstanding, great-power rivalry is likely to remain for a fairly long time, fragmenting trade, technological flows, supply chains and geopolitics. However, opportunities are opening up for cutting-edge technologies and closer relations with the larger world, including Europe and the Global South.
The 15th five-year plan focuses on high-quality development with moderate but stable growth; technological self-reliance and industrial upgrading; economic rebalancing towards domestic consumption; expansion of smart grids and new energy systems; securing critical supply chains; managing geopolitical volatility; and institutionalising long-term national security.
The plan is advancing towards an important milestone: realising the nation’s second centenary goal of building “a modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced and harmonious” by 2049.
Under “one country, two systems”, Hong Kong has an invaluable part to play not only as a “superconnector” but also as a global haven for finance, technology, academic and scientific research, culture, events, East-meets-West lifestyle and more. Here are 10 concrete steps the city can take.
Read the full article at South China Morning Post →
HK