Opinion | 10 steps Hong Kong can take to make the most of its 5-year plan



Chinaโ€™s five-year plan responds to โ€œgreat changes unseen in a centuryโ€, prescient words used by President Xi Jinping since 2018. Chinese policymakers have anticipated headwinds in the world system, underscored by the upending of the โ€œrules-based world orderโ€ by US President Donald Trumpโ€™s โ€œlaw of the jungleโ€ 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 nationโ€™s second centenary goal of building โ€œa modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced and harmoniousโ€ by 2049.

Under โ€œone country, two systemsโ€, Hong Kong has an invaluable part to play not only as a โ€œsuperconnectorโ€ 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.

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