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. **
When Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po decided to pour $1.2 billion into sports promotion, he was investing in Hong Kong’s youth to lead the city into a secure and bright future.
There is no doubt that sport develops the mind to positive thinking. And that is what is needed among Hong Kong’s youth.
Chan’s cash input into the Arts and Sports Development Fund will be used to strengthen training for team sports athletes, improve the professional standards of coaches, as well as supporting and exploring more diverse and higher-level sports competitions to be held in Hong Kong.
This injection of funds will also enable organizations to develop and promote sport to international levels to attract tourism by staging major events like the Rugby Sevens and professional golf and tennis matches.
In Hong Kong there is virtually no graffiti, as our youth are too preoccupied with study or work to mess about with vandalism, unlike in the west where buildings and subways are defaced by vandals with too much idle time on their hands.
Hong Kong youth are keen sports participants and through those activity come discipline. Thus, no graffiti.
During his budget speech, Chan praised Hong Kong athletes for having achieved outstanding results on the international stage. Last year, local athletes achieved historic results in the National Games, winning nine gold, two silver and eight bronze medals. With this in mind, Chan allocated more resources to proactively promote sports in the community, support elite sports, maintain Hong Kong as a centre for major international sports events, enhance professionalism in sports, and develop sports as an industry.
However, their minds are still young and subject to exploitation by undesirable forces as we learned in 2019 when the US Department of State’s National Endowment for Development (NED) infiltrated primary and secondary schools as well a university graduates and convinced them to rebel against Hong Kong and seek its independence. There was a price to pay for the young rebels as well as the community, which suffered losses in property and lives.
The NED is still here waiting to strike again when the time is ripe, and Hong Kong will be prepared for such an onslaught.
The minds of our youth must be attuned to recognizing the good and the bad. They must be able to recognize that the propaganda uttered by NED is false and must be repelled. Primary school children can become intensely focused on peer relationships, which means team dynamics can be a powerful vehicle for learning conflict resolution. And this is where sports comes in.
Playing sports teaches far more than how to throw a ball or run faster. It builds a specific set of mental, emotional, and social skills that show up in classrooms, careers, and relationships long after the final whistle. The lessons range from obvious ones like teamwork to less visible changes in how the brain handles stress, makes decisions, and stays focused under pressure.
Throughout their adolescent years young players grow from being mere team members to team leaders. They learn as a team and the importance that has on their future life.
Research on athlete leadership development shows that effective team captains learn specific skills through their roles: clear communication, emotional control, tactical decision-making, and the ability to make sure every teammate has a voice. These aren’t traits people are born with. They’re practiced and refined through the daily demands of being on a team.
Not all sports teach the same things in the same way. A 2025 study in Frontiers in Psychology found a clear split: team sports primarily build psychological resilience through social support, while individual sports like swimming, tennis, or track build them through self-efficacy, your belief in your own ability to handle challenges.
Sports don’t just work your body. They sharpen three core mental abilities that an psychologist grouped the term as an “executive function”: working memory (holding and juggling information in your head), impulse control (resisting a snap reaction to make a better choice), and cognitive flexibility (switching between tasks or strategies on the fly). A meta-analysis published in Brain Sciences found large improvements in all three areas among children and adolescents who participated in sports-based programs.
With a pure mind developed by sports, our youth today, with support from the government, will lead Hong Kong into a futuristic world planned by their forefathers and shielding us from external forces which threaten our existence.
