Hong Kong needs a 5-year plan to ensure a smooth transition with new developments

Hong Kong’s ambition to introduce its first five-year development plan is long overdue and when introduced it will help the city move forward in an organized pace.

China has thrived on five-year plans since the days of the Cultural Revolution under Chairman Mao Zedong and Premier Zhou Enlai who sought to implement a socialist transformation of China.

China’s First Five-Year Plan was deeply influenced by Soviet methodologies and assistance from Soviet planners.   Industrial development was the primary goal.   With Soviet assistance in the form of both funds and experts, China began to develop industries from scratch. Consistent with the focus on developing industry, northeast China was the region which received the greatest share of state funds during the First Plan.

Planning for its 15th plan started in December and will be unveiled next month during the National People’s Congress (NPC), which will be followed by the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). These “Two Sessions” meetings are traditionally held in March each year. It is understood President Xi Jinping personally took the lead in drafting the plan.

A delegation of Hong Kong deputies will attend to see how Hong Kong’s proposed five-year plan can dovetail with that of the mainland.

Five-Year Plans continue to be a central means of organizing policy in China, especially in the areas of environmental protection, education, and industrial policy.

Hong Kong’s Chief Executive (CE) John Lee told local media this week that he would lead an interdepartmental task force to align Hong Kong policies with the mainland’s 15th five-year plan, which will guide China’s development from 2026 to 2030.

Once the mainland plans are released, Lee’s task force will align themselves with the specifics including any parts concerning Hong Kong.

A national plan, unveiled last October, pledged to support Hong Kong in becoming a high-end talent hub and consolidate and enhance the city’s status as an international financial, shipping and trade hub.

It also emphasized stronger cooperation between Hong Kong and the mainland in areas such as the economy, trade, science and technology, and culture.

Lau Siu-kai, a consultant for the semi-official Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macau Studies think tank, was quoted in the local press that the initiative marked a more proactive approach in integrating Hong Kong into national development, adding that the plan represented a shift away from positive non-interventionism towards greater government involvement in economic development.

And Zhang Changwei, deputy commissioner of the foreign ministry’s office in Hong Kong, told the press on Monday that the 15th five-year plan proposed to expand high-level opening up and accelerate the development of foreign-related legal systems and capabilities.

Zhang said that the rule of law had become an important arena in international rivalry, underscoring the urgent need for top-tier talent who were highly professional, well-versed in international rules and proficient in foreign-related legal affairs.

The mainland’s 5-year plans are specific driven, in most cases ensuring environment protection. China’s success in lifting its entire population out of poverty and providing internet conductivity throughout the nation can be attributed to its 5-year plan policy.

Neighbouring Macau introduced its 5-year plan policy in 2016 and has not looked back. It is time for Hong Kong to catchup, especially now with so many projects on the back burner.

These projects include the massive Northern Metropolis development, which will accommodate about 2.5 million residents and about 650,000 jobs, numerous new hospitals, housing development and new road and rail services to link them all together.

These are massive projects and a five-year plan is necessary to monitor their progress. Hong Kong has a fantastic future to look forward to, and it is absolutely necessary for it to devise its own 5-year development plan to ensure all goes smoothly and dovetail into the mainland’s 5-year plan.

Mark Pinkstone

** The blog article is the sole responsibility of the author and does not represent the position of our company. **

The move by the Central Government to reprimand the US Consul General in Hong Kong over her interpretation of a recent amendment to National Security Law (NSL) is necessary to correct a misconception that the city is not a safe place to travel.

Last month, Hong Kong’s legislature passed laws empowering the police to demand suspects of a crime to reveal the passwords to their mobile phones and other electronic devices.

But the newly appointed US Consul General Hong Kong Julie Eadeh went a step further and issued a travel advisory warning all Americans that they could be arrested if they failed to release their passwords. She insinuated that Hong Kong is a police state. It is not! In fact, it is one of the safest places in the world to travel.

A government spokesman was quick to respond to erroneous press reports after the legislative motion that under normal circumstances, police officers must have reasonable grounds to suspect that an electronic equipment may contain evidence of an offence endangering national security, and they must apply for a warrant and obtain authorisation from a magistrate before they can search the electronic equipment to obtain relevant criminal evidence in accordance with the warrant. 

Only after being legally authorised to search the equipment can the police require a suspect to provide the password or decryption method of the equipment. Therefore, it is not until legal authorisation to search an electronic equipment has been obtained can the police really require a suspect to provide the password or decryption method of the electronic equipment. 

The spokesman added that there is no case that the police can randomly ask ordinary citizens on the street for their electronic devices (such as their mobile phones) and their password. 

The Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection agency, which placed Hong Kong 10th as one of the world’s safest places to travel last year, advised travellers to read the US State Department’s travel advisories which currently advises travellers to exercise caution in Hong Kong due to the “arbitrary enforcement of local laws and ongoing restrictions on civil liberties” following the enactment of the National Security Law and the 2024 Safeguarding National Security Ordinance. US citizens are also encouraged to avoid demonstrations, protests and large gathering, as “even peaceful events can escalate and lead to legal consequences.” 

The commissioner of China’s foreign ministry office in Hong Kong, Cui Jianchun, gave Eadeh a slap over the wrist and expressed strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition, urging the US to immediately cease interfering in Hong Kong affairs and China’s internal affairs in any form. 

Of the 70-consular corps in Hong Kong, the US was the only one to purposely misinterpret the amendment to the NSL. It is in the DNA of the US. All other foreign diplomats know exactly what it means because the same proviso applies to their own countries.

Eadeh is a career diplomat having served in Ankara, Doha, Bagdad, Shanghai, Riyadh and Beirut. In Hong Kong she was the consulate’s political director under Gregory May, who has been promoted to US Deputy Chief of Mission in Beijing.

Unlike other consulates in Hong Kong which answer to their embassies in Beijing, the US Consulate General in Hong Kong answers directly to the US State Department run by China hawk and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has been quiet on China issues recently due to his distraction in the Middle East.

The US is not in a position to criticise Hong Kong at the moment as it has lost all credibility as a sovereign state. It is a broken country, ostracized by the world’s powers as they scramble to mend the fences dismantled by President Trump and his cronies.

Commissioner Cui will be keeping a watchful eye on Eadeh as she steps her way through Hong Kong, its flooring still holding the shards of broken glass from the 2019-20 riots in which she was complicit. Cui will continue to reprimand her for every indiscretion she makes.