As Hong Kong’s designated role in the national development strategy becomes increasingly significant, how the special administrative region should align its development with the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30) has become a subject of intense discussion.
During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, China’s journey for advancing high-standard opening-up could be fraught with risks amid a complex and treacherous external environment. For instance, the recent conflicts in the Middle East have disrupted the transportation of bulk commodities. If geopolitical instability persists, it will pose new challenges to the development of the Belt and Road Initiative and other global initiatives.
As an open economy, Hong Kong is well-versed in the international trade environment and rules, and possesses mature experience in mitigating trade risks. Under the leadership of Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu, the SAR government set up the Task Force on Supporting Mainland Enterprises in Going Global (GoGlobal Task Force) last year. In the face of a rapidly changing international landscape, the GoGlobal Task Force should race against time to grasp the new circumstances and challenges that Chinese mainland companies encounter in expanding businesses overseas. By leveraging Hong Kong’s distinct advantages in legal services, arbitration, insurance and other professional services, Hong Kong can provide strategic advice on risk avoidance. The successful practices and experiences forged through the collaboration between the GoGlobal Task Force and mainland enterprises can be widely promoted to benefit a broader range of mainland companies.
Furthermore, this year’s Government Work Report released by Premier Li Qiang during the two sessions introduced the concept of creating new forms of smart economy for the first time. This signifies that artificial intelligence is no longer viewed merely as a tool but as the basis for constructing a completely new economic growth model driven by AI at its core, dubbed as the “smart economy”. This involves deepening open-source development, strengthening technological infrastructure support, promoting AI applications, and advancing AI governance. The smart economy will serve as a crucial pivot for elevating new quality productive forces.
Hong Kong boasts significant strengths in AI research and development. By leveraging its own strengths to serve the country’s needs, Hong Kong can become a vital link in the development of the smart economy. Finding this precise point of alignment will result in mutual benefits and complementary growth for both the nation and the SAR.
In pursuit of this alignment, the Northern Metropolis serves as a critical focal point; the pace of its construction must be accelerated, which has fallen short of expectations — primarily because of bottlenecks related to systems, rules, and standards. The SAR government is pushing for the enactment of dedicated legislation for the Northern Metropolis, striving to break down barriers and expedite the process. The pressing task now is to accelerate the legislative work; while no procedural steps can be skipped, relevant personnel can work overtime to meet the tight schedule, rather than proceeding at a leisurely, conventional pace.
Simultaneously, Hong Kong must fully utilize its distinct advantages in science, technology, education, and talent. The city is home to five of the world’s top 100 universities and numerous research-intensive institutions — a concentration of academic excellence rarely seen globally. To develop new quality productive forces according to local conditions, Hong Kong must capitalize on this invaluable asset and actively join the nation’s wave of developing emerging industries — such as AI, the low-altitude economy, and new energies — so as to fully unleash the immense potential of its science, education, and talent sectors.
In recent years, Hong Kong has accomplished many major tasks and resolved numerous longstanding issues, precisely because the executive-led system has been effectively put into practice. Moving forward, Hong Kong still has formidable challenges to tackle, requiring the continued and robust implementation of executive-led governance
The Government Work Report calls for the construction of international centers for scientific and technological innovation in Beijing (the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region), Shanghai (the Yangtze River Delta), and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. Clearly, the three centers have distinct strengths and differentiated functions. From my perspective, the Greater Bay Area’s innovation center focuses heavily on institutional innovation, facilitating the swift and convenient flow of innovation factors, taking advantage of the “two systems” setup. Concurrently, as an international financial center, Hong Kong possesses an additional edge in finance, allowing it to play a more significant role in using finance to boost technological innovation. Therefore, differentiated competition among these three centers is not just likely, but inevitable.
During a symposium with Hong Kong and Macao deputies to the National People’s Congress and members of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference National Committee on March 3, Xia Baolong, director of the Hong Kong and Macao Work Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council, pointed out that the two SARs possess excellent conditions to advance high-quality development — namely, favorable timing, geographical advantages, and social harmony.
“Favorable timing” refers to the 15th Five-Year Plan, which offers ample opportunities to Hong Kong and Macao. “Geographical advantages” stem from the solid foundation the two regions have laid in recent years. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, their economies have recovered steadily. Last year, Hong Kong’s economy grew by 3.5 percent and Macao’s by 4.7 percent, ranking among the top among developed economies. In particular, Hong Kong’s robust financial market has exceeded expectations, debunking the “ruins of an international financial center” fallacy. “Social harmony” reflects the positive atmosphere created by good governance and public unity. For Hong Kong, having emerged from the 2019-20 social unrest, there is now a shared public desire for stability, progress, and prosperity.
The core essence of the 15th Five-Year Plan regarding Hong Kong and Macao comes down to two aspects: enhancing governance efficacy, and integrating into and serving national development.
The key to improving governance efficacy, as Xia stressed, is adherence to the executive-led system. In recent years, Hong Kong has accomplished many major tasks and resolved numerous longstanding issues, precisely because the executive-led system has been effectively put into practice. Moving forward, Hong Kong still has formidable challenges to tackle, requiring the continued and robust implementation of executive-led governance.
Over the next five years, as the nation goes all-out to shift its growth engines, Hong Kong must seize the opportunities. The city should proactively contribute its unique strengths to national development while overcoming its own shortcomings by adeptly leveraging national advantages. In doing so, Hong Kong could reshape its growth engines and enhance its core competitiveness.
The author is vice-chairman of the Committee on Liaison with Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and Overseas Chinese of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, and chairman of the Hong Kong New Era Development Thinktank.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.
