Hong Kong puts its dual policy blueprints to work for future growth

The coming policy speech will be Lee’s fifth and final one in his current term. What sets it further apart is the joint release of the city’s five-year plan, a much-anticipated blueprint to steer its development alongside the nation’s priorities up to 2030. The city leader will present both documents to the Legislative Council on September 16, before attending a question and answer session with lawmakers the following day. Lee and other ministers are expected to host briefings to explain the plans and policies in greater detail to the public, as well as diplomats and foreign investors.

The linkage of the leader’s final policy address in the current term with the city’s first endeavour to align with state development goals is both symbolic and pragmatic. Traditionally, the policy speech takes stock of what the government has achieved while seeking to address the city’s short- and longer-term issues. Linking it now with the national plan signals that the city’s future transcends the tenures of individual public office holders. Whoever is at the helm is obliged to map out the measures needed to achieve outcomes in line with the directions set by the country.

Speaking after a district visit on Wednesday, Lee said tabling the city’s five-year plan and then his policy address shortly afterwards would help people better grasp how they complement each other in defining the vision for Hong Kong’s future. “The five-year plan draws the eyes of a dragon, while the policy address draws the entire dragon,” he said. The policy address would formulate measures and set out indicators for implementing the five-year plan, based on the international environment, economic forecasts and the latest developments, he added.

Lee dropped some hints when he visited low-income households as part of the public consultations for the policy address. He pledged to ease burdens on older people and their carers to support ageing in place. “Enabling elderly people to live healthily and with dignity in familiar communities is an important direction of our elderly care policy,” he wrote in a social media post following the visit. He pledged to promote the integration of medical care, rehabilitation, community support and technology applications.

Understandably, the public will look up to Lee and his team for more tangible improvements in livelihood matters. The government should also elaborate on how its policies will lead the city to achieve the goals under the five-year plan to invigorate the economy and improve people’s standard of living.