It goes without saying that the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25) for national economic and social development rolled out by the Fifth Plenary Session of the 19th Communist Party of China Central Committee on Thursday is of tremendous significance to the Chinese nation. It is the first five-year blueprint setting the nation on a path toward 2050, when the country is expected to have been transformed into a fully modernized socialist nation and a great power in the world, which is essentially the realization of the nation’s second centenary goal.

As has been the case over the past several decades, Hong Kong has a significant role to play in the next stage of national development. It is expected to proactively participate in the accelerated development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area into a powerhouse for national as well as regional growth, which is an important part of the new national development strategy, as stipulated in the 14th Five-Year Plan.

Hong Kong’s active participation in the Bay Area development is not just for the sake of fulfilling its obligation as a special administrative region but for its own socioeconomic development and well-being of the Hong Kong people.

There is the notion that Hong Kong’s success owes much to its British colonial legacy, especially the common law system. But there are dozens of places around the world that have been a British colony and kept their colonial legacy as well. Yet none of them is nearly as successful as Hong Kong in terms of economic prowess, particularly in attaining the status as a major international finance, trade and logistics center, and now as the primary offshore renminbi hub.

Hong Kong made it because it grasped a historic opportunity offered by the Chinese mainland, particularly during the four decades of reform and opening-up. The city rose to prominence as a major international finance, trade and logistics center by playing well the unique role as middleman between the mainland and the rest of the world, serving the various needs of the huge hinterland beyond the Shenzhen River.

The shifting geopolitical sands, unleashing seismic changes in global geopolitics, have made it all the more imperative for Hong Kong to play an active role as well as in the “internal circulation” process of the nation’s newly announced “dual circulation” development strategy if the SAR is to at least maintain its current prominence.

To do so, Hong Kong must overcome obstructions by political entities hellbent on derailing anything and everything related to the integration of Hong Kong’s development into the overall development strategy of the country. Hong Kong stands to benefit immensely from total involvement in the Bay Area’s development and aligning its development strategy with the new national development strategy, but only if it effectively overcomes political obstructions by ill-motivated forces, both local and overseas.