This year’s comprehensive, detailed, progressive and forward-looking Policy Address delivered by the Chief Executive for Hong Kong’s long-term development is worthy of our support.

Because of the huge friction in our society due to political reform disputes last year, both the public and business community hope that the Government could redouble its efforts on developing the economy and improving people’s livelihood in order to “recover lost ground”. Therefore, this year’s comprehensive, detailed, progressive and forward-looking Policy Address delivered by the Chief Executive for Hong Kong’s long-term development is worthy of our support. For example, to deal with our ageing population, the Policy Address has set aside HK$200 billion for a 10-year hospital development plan and rolled out measures to improve the barrier-free facilities in our communities; and in response to the climate change and extreme weather Hong Kong is experiencing, the Chief Secretary for Administration is tasked with chairing an inter-departmental committee to steer and tackle these issues.

A progressive and forward-looking Policy Address

Given the current brewing global economic storm, the Policy Address advocates capturing the opportunities arising from the “13th Five-Year Plan” and the “One Belt and One Road” Initiative and allocates HK$4.7 billion to develop Hong Kong’s innovation and technology industries in order to seek a new drive for Hong Kong’s economic development. This is a right direction and precisely my core expectation for this year’s Policy Address.

Earlier when the Government was consulting the public on their expectations for this year's Policy Address and Budget, I submitted to the Chief Executive and the Financial Secretary a key recommendation document on emphasising innovation and co-development to capture the opportunities arising from the “13th Five-Year Plan”. In the document, I expressed my hope to see the Government formulating a comprehensive blueprint to roll out substantive policies to help continuously strengthen Hong Kong’s old and new industries and promptly capture the opportunities arising from the “13th Five-Year Plan” and the “One Belt and One Road” Initiative to seek fresh impetus for Hong Kong’s economic development. I am glad that these hopes and recommendations have been adopted by the Policy Address as some of its main initiatives.

However, currently some people in the society are saying that the Policy Address’s emphasis on the opportunities arising from the “13th Five-Year Plan” and the “One Belt and One Road” Initiative is for the purpose of “currying favor with the Central Government”. Even the pan-democratic legislators also expressed such a thought on their amendments to the Motion of Thanks for the Policy Address delivered by the Chief Executive at the Legislative Council. Regardless of how many people actually share this view, I am very surprised that such a narrow, misrepresented view can actually find support in Hong Kong, a metropolis with an international outlook, which is also regrettable.

Escalation of disputes and violence is regrettable

As we all know, today’s China is the second largest economy in the world. Many large global companies are trying to seek development in the Mainland, while Hong Kong, due to its proximity, has got a lot of unique opportunities arising from the country’s opening up and reform. The current “13th Five-Year Plan” and the “One Belt and One Road” Initiative have embodied the country’s sprint towards a comprehensive well-off society and the opportunities for creating future global economic engines. The international community is paying close attention with the hope of sharing a piece of the pie. So far 57 countries have already joined the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), but why some people among us are singing a different tune and want us to trek backwards? Have these people thought that if Hong Kong really alienates itself from the “13th Five-Year Plan” and the “One Belt and One Road” Initiative, given the gloomy external environment, what alternative development directions does our small externally oriented economy have in the future?

At present, many industries in Hong Kong do not have optimistic prospects. Yet the disputes and violence in the society are escalating and the new round of filibustering in the Legislative Council has delayed many important social development initiatives, making the situation worse. The general public and business community, especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), are extremely worried. In this regard, I welcome the Financial Secretary’s earlier indication that he would lay down measures in the Budget to help SMEs tide over the economic downturn. However, we should not be short-sighted. The Government must lead the society back to the right path of stability and prosperity and seek new opportunities for young people to have a vast development space for their future.

Help businesses to tide over the economic downturn

In this legislative year, my Members’ Motion on “capturing the opportunities arising from the “One Belt and One Road” Initiative to seek new opportunities for Hong Kong’s economy” has been submitted to the Government. The authorities should have a comprehensive blueprint, including exploring the latest and most detailed “One Belt and One Road” construction projects at the government to government level for Hong Kong’s business community and keeping it abreast of the current opportunities, as well as rolling out specific support policy measures to assist the industries in capturing these opportunities in a timely manner. Therefore, I welcome the Policy Address’s proposal to set up a steering committee for the “One Belt and One Road” to be chaired by the Chief Executive to formulate strategies and policies for Hong Kong’s participation in the initiative, and establish a Belt and Road office to liaise with the central government ministries and provincial governments, as well as its indication that the Government will open economic and trade offices in the “One Belt and One Road” countries this year. Unfortunately, so far the Government has yet to set a timetable for forming the Belt and Road steering committee and office, and with regard to the economic and trade offices, the authorities have yet to fix a date for implementation as they want to first resolve the ranking and candidates for economic and trade officers. I hope that the Government can implement these plans promptly. What is most important is to start work as soon as possible without delay to effectively support the various industries in Hong Kong so that they will not miss any development opportunities.

How should they be supported? In fact, “jointly building the ‘One Belt and One Road’ ” is an important task under the “13th Five-Year Plan”, while “innovation” is the focus of the “13th Five-Year Plan” for overall national development. Above all, support must be provided for our industries to constantly innovate according with the trend of the times. They will then have great potential to move to a higher level through these new opportunities. Otherwise, they will only “fall behind”. Due to limited space, I will continue to discuss the support measures presented in the Policy Address in the next issue of CGCC Vision.