An event of "Redefining Hong Kong 2026" was held Monday in the southern Chinese city, with a focus on the special administrative region's development goals within the framework of China's 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030).
Sponsored by South China Morning Post, the event was attended by financial experts, scholars, business people and other guests from different countries and regions to set goals for the future of Hong Kong's finance, science and technology and other fields.
Paul Chan, financial secretary of the Hong Kong SAR government, said at the event that the 15th Five-Year Plan has drawn a blueprint for the country's high-quality development, and Hong Kong should proactively integrate with it for its own high-quality development.
Chan said the 15th Five-Year Plan has pointed out the direction and brought major opportunities for Hong Kong's future development, further strengthening the confidence of all sectors of Hong Kong. Last year, Hong Kong's GDP grew by 3.5 percent, and goods exports remained the main driving force. The unemployment rate remained at a relatively low level of 3.8 percent, and the economy operated steadily, Chan said.
Under the principle of One Country, Two Systems, Hong Kong will leverage its own strengths, enhance its ties with the international community, strengthen and increase cooperation with developed markets, and open up new markets to attract new capital and enterprises to Hong Kong, he said.
Redefining Hong Kong event held
China's consumption growth continues to show resilience, with millions of new restaurants opening last year, underscoring robust demand in the domestic catering sector, said Zhang Yichen, a member of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).
Zhang, who is CEO of CITIC Capital and chairs the master franchise of McDonald's China, told China Global Television Network (CGTN) that 3.5 million new restaurants opened across the country last year, including about 1,000 new McDonald's outlets annually.
At this year's "two sessions," Zhang urged policymakers to introduce measures that would encourage dine-in consumption, linking the restaurant boom to broader efforts to sustain domestic demand.
"This is the amazing resilience of the Chinese economy and Chinese enterprises overall. It's that you have another 3.5 million restaurants, new restaurants, opened," he said.
Zhang believes the key challenge now is reviving in-person dining and shopping to sustain long-term consumption growth.
"In the short term we're actually gaining from that. But in the long run, I believe overall the industry will suffer and the economy will suffer. That's why I brought up the issue and I'm so glad that the government is clearly agreeing with my views. The fact that we're (McDonald's China) opening 1000 restaurants a year and the fact that there are new restaurants still doing very well, it's a clear indication there is consumption power, you just have to find them," he said.
The "two sessions" are the annual meetings of China's supreme organ of state power, the National People's Congress (NPC), and the top political advisory body, the CPPCC. Both bodies serve five-year terms and hold a plenary session each year.
The fourth session of the 14th NPC and the fourth session of the 14th National Committee of the CPPCC opened in Beijing on March 5 and March 4, respectively.
Zhang’s remarks underscore both the resilience of China's consumer market and the need for policies to secure sustained demand, a key focus of this year’s "two sessions."
CPPCC member seeks measures to boost dine-in consumption as China's demand stays resilient
