Today, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu will unveil the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region’s first five-year plan, alongside the 2026 Policy Address. Having taken into consideration over 17,000 public submissions gathered during the extensive consultation process, the duo — when put into full implementation — is expected to inject new momentum into socioeconomic development by stimulating market vitality, cultivating new growth engines, and enhancing people’s well-being, among other endeavors.
The central government attaches great importance and shows strong support to the SAR’s first five-year plan, which is expected to help the SAR better align its development with the national 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30), particularly by further integrating into the wider Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area strategy.
Conceivably, the five-year blueprint will seek not only to consolidate the city’s status as an international financial, shipping, and trade center but also robustly promote high-quality development by cultivating new growth engines, particularly through the development and use of innovation and technology, as well as by leveraging the city’s edge in education and talent attraction.
Public expectations for the inaugural blueprint are understandably diverse. Some residents cross their fingers for immediate relief in healthcare and housing; others hope for rapid economic diversification and youth empowerment. However, as Hong Kong stands at this critical juncture of governance evolution and developmental transformation, the public must undergo a paradigm shift in their way of thinking, pivoting away from short-termism toward long-term strategic patience.
For decades, Hong Kong society has been accustomed to evaluating governance on an annual basis, often measuring policy success by immediate welfare handouts or short-term economic stimuli. Such a myopic approach ignores the fundamental rule of urban development — that it must proceed step by step and bear fruit gradually over a number of years. The simultaneous rollout of a medium-to-long-term five-year plan and an annual Policy Address fundamentally alters such an approach, and hopefully will change people’s mindset. The five-year plan sets the long-term strategic goals, while the Policy Address outlines executable short-term tasks to address immediate challenges.
Only by discarding short-termism and establishing a holistic way of thinking can one appreciate the long-term strategies proposed in the five-year plan for tackling the deep-seated issues the city faces, including an overreliance on finance and real estate, chronic land shortages, stagnant upward mobility for young people, and a narrow economic base. Resolving these intertwined issues requires a phased approach of strategic planning and structural transformation, rather than a single year’s efforts. With this broad picture in mind, stakeholders would be able to — and should — focus on evaluating whether the five-year strategies and objectives are reasonable and feasible and if the annual tasks or policy measures are practically executable when assessing the blueprint and Policy Address.
Furthermore, public discourse surrounding a Policy Address has often witnessed two extreme phenomena — aspiration for a panacea and instinct skepticism or naysaying. Such mentalities are detrimental to policy implementation. Instead, stakeholders must approach public policies with maturity and objectivity. This should begin with recognizing the breakthroughs made in both governance philosophy and strategizing long-term development. Given Hong Kong’s scarce land resources, complex demographic shifts, and historical constraints, reforms and solutions cannot advance in perfect lockstep but must be prioritized and implemented in stages. Ultimately, a rational approach — acknowledging the SAR government’s proactive planning while offering constructive oversight — will best serve the city’s steady progress.
Parallel to this, the five-year plan and Policy Address never mean to be the government’s exclusive purview. They are virtually social contracts for Hong Kong society to put in collective effort. A misconception among a minority of residents is that economic planning and policy implementation are solely the responsibility of officials. This bystander mentality has historically contributed to social friction and development stagnation.
Moving forward, residents must transition from passive recipients to active participants. This requires changes in thinking patterns and actions from all sectors of society. For the blueprint to succeed, stakeholders should look beyond immediate gains and support long-term strategies. For example, further integration into the Greater Bay Area is not merely about fulfilling national tasks, but rather about vastly broadening the space for Hong Kong residents to start businesses, seek employment, pursue education, and lead a fulfilling life. For young people, it is crucial to discard passive wait-and-see attitudes born from past struggles with a narrow job market, high living costs, and expensive housing. By proactively embracing emerging industries, they will avail the opportunities to be created during the five-year plan period. For the business sector, it is imperative to adopt a more aggressive approach in embracing technological innovation, the digital economy, and high-end services, which are expected to grow as Hong Kong promotes high-quality development under the five-year plan.
Crucially, by completely discarding the narrow perspective that has previously prevailed among some members of society, stakeholders can easily see the core defining feature of Hong Kong’s first five-year plan — the promotion of comprehensive alignment with the 15th Five-Year Plan. The national blueprint empowers the city’s development, the Greater Bay Area provides a vast economic hinterland, and the Northern Metropolis development unlocks unprecedented industrial frontiers.
Hong Kong’s greatest strategic advantage lies in its integration with national development. Detached from overall national development, Hong Kong’s growth will be significantly constrained; anchored to the vast Chinese mainland hinterland, Hong Kong has unlimited potential for development.
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.
