How the China model can lead revamp of controversial Hong Kong think tank

Francis Neoton Cheung says the sheer scale and heft of the National Development and Reform Commission has been a major force behind China’s social and economic reforms, and it should provide inspiration as Hong Kong seeks more open and effective policymaking

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Rush hour on the eve of the National Day holiday in Shanghai, on September 30, 2014. Strategic long-term planning by the National Development and Reform Commission has had a big role in the raft of social reforms and sustained economic growth over the past two decades in China. Photo: AFP

Published: 11:45am, 11 Jul 2017Updated: 6:47pm, 11 Jul 2017

New Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor has pledged to revamp the Central Policy Unit (CPU), the controversial government think tank she called a “black box”. Lam wants it to be a government policy and project coordination unit, responsible for research and evaluation of novel policy ideas put forward by the public.

A strong CPU is vital to the functioning of any administration. As a review gets under way to find the right job description, the government should think big.

The CPU was set up in 1989 to advise the governor (and then the chief executive after 1997), chief secretary and financial secretary on policy matters and public opinion trends. Its influence surged under Leung Chun-ying, as it developed great sway over appointments to the government’s advisory and statutory bodies.

Lam’s determination to overhaul the CPU will return it to its founding purpose

Lam’s determination to overhaul the CPU will not only return it to its founding purpose but, more importantly, will achieve cross-bureau policy coordination. In reforming the unit, the government should ambitiously consider modelling it after Beijing’s massive National Development and Reform Commission. Given its strategic long-term planning role, the social reforms and sustained national economic growth of the past two decades are in no small part down to the real policy coordination and execution heft the commission enjoys.

Lawmaker Helena Wong (second right) and then-legislator Kenneth Chan (right), with members of the Hong Kong Federation of Students, petition then chief executive Leung Chun-ying not to expand the Central Policy Unit’s power, at Tamar on December 7, 2012. Photo: K.Y. Cheng

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Taking a proven national lead, the Hong Kong government should invest major resources to scale up the think tank. A revamped CPU should serve three main functions.