Hong Kong’s first-ever five-year plan will not alter the city’s capitalist system but will seek to make full use of its advantages in shaping the territory’s long-term development, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu has said.
Lee will unveil the five-year plan on Wednesday alongside his annual policy address, setting out Hong Kong’s strategic priorities while aligning them with the national blueprint for China’s development between 2026 and 2030. The initiative marks the city’s first adoption of a planning framework that has been used in mainland China for more than seven decades.
In an opinion piece published in the South China Morning Post on Monday, Lee sought to address concerns that adopting a five-year planning model could signal a departure from Hong Kong’s long-established laissez-faire system. “I have also been asked whether formulating a five-year plan would change Hong Kong’s original system. The answer is no,” he wrote.
“The five-year plan will uphold Hong Kong’s rule of law and capitalist system, implement the Basic Law and adhere to ‘one country, two systems’ without distorting Hong Kong,” Lee said. He added that the plan would preserve the city’s status as an international city and ensure the free flow of capital, people, goods and information, while making full use of the flexibility and advantages of the capitalist market.
Lee also pointed to Chinese President Xi Jinping’s repeated description of “one country, two systems” as a “good system” that “must be adhered to over the long term”. He said his administration had studied the experiences of Macau and mainland cities before developing Hong Kong’s first plan “under an exceptionally tight schedule”.
The government also used artificial intelligence to analyse public feedback after receiving more than 17,000 submissions during a two-month consultation period, with 80 per cent submitted by individuals. Lee recalled that one resident had questioned what an economic-focused plan would mean for ordinary citizens.
“My answer then, as now, is direct: I want the people of Hong Kong – every one of you – to share in the dividends of development, and feel a sense of happiness and fulfilment,” he wrote.
Lee said proposals including strengthening Hong Kong’s traditional advantages, accelerating the Northern Metropolis megaproject and expanding global cooperation were primarily economic measures, but their broader purpose was to enable residents to flourish. Better employment opportunities and greater upward mobility for young people, he said, would turn governance “from measures into results”.
The five-year plan will provide Hong Kong with its long-term blueprint and strategic direction, while annual policy addresses will continue to set out how that strategy is implemented each year. Lee said future policy addresses would adjust policies and measures according to changing circumstances and economic dynamics. Wednesday’s address will be his last in his current five-year tenure.
However, a study by think tank Youth Ideas points to concerns among younger residents about their role in the process. Among roughly 600 respondents aged between 13 and 34, more than half wanted the blueprint to prioritise improving livelihoods and happiness, followed by ensuring economic growth benefited all parts of society equally.
Nearly 40 per cent said they felt insufficiently involved in the planning process, while one-quarter were unsure what opportunities the plan would create. More than 60 per cent said the authorities had not adequately explained its significance.
Manteo Chan Man-to said focus-group participants regarded the government’s publicity as relatively formal and one-sided, with information that was condensed and lacked warmth. “As a result, youths merely know that there is a plan, but feel that it is very distant and difficult to spark resonance among their peers,” he said.
John Poon Tsz-fung, the think tank’s convenor, urged the government to involve younger residents more directly in long-term planning. He called for a dedicated youth-development chapter in the five-year plan, resources specifically earmarked for young people, and a cross-departmental “Future Commission” through which they could provide feedback and receive concrete responses and solutions.
