Since the start of reform and opening-up, every third plenary session of the Communist Party of China Central Committee has been invariably held at a critical historical juncture when both the CPC and China faced the question of “where to go”.
The decision made in the meeting outlined and opened a new stage of reform, opening-up, and socialist modernization, which is of significance in promoting Chinese modernization and national rejuvenation. The third plenary session of the 20th CPC Central Committee, held in Beijing from Monday to Thursday, took place amid an increasingly complex and severe international situation and tough domestic economic circumstances. It will decide on China’s future reform and development. The stakes are high.
Since the start of reform and opening-up, the main focus of all third plenary sessions has been on deepening reform and opening-up. This week’s session is no exception; it adopted a more comprehensive and in-depth blueprint for furthering reform and opening-up, highlighting a bolder, enterprising, thoughtful, and new spirit.
The main focus of the resolution adopted in this session is to deepen the country’s reform, opening-up, and development. Its underlying spirit has an extremely high significance for Hong Kong’s future reform and development, with several aspects of the spirit being relevant and crucial to Hong Kong.
The incumbent Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government, inaugurated in July 2022, has been proactive and diligent and has introduced numerous policies, measures and decisions in many fields. However, the SAR government has yet to announce a comprehensive, systematic, long-term reform and development plan and strategy. Currently, Hong Kong is facing a sluggish global economy amid attacks, containment and smear campaigns from the United States and its allies. The Chinese mainland economy is in a difficult moment of adjustment and restructuring. Hong Kong’s internal economic growth is weak; the original industrial base is too narrow, and emerging industries are still in their infancy. Hong Kong also has high interest rates, reduced foreign investment, sluggish stock and property markets, changes in residents’ consumption patterns, and insufficient incomes. Many residents are worried and confused about Hong Kong’s economic progress. In this environment, the SAR government must propose a set of rigorously researched, well-thought-out, and practical development strategies that are systematic, holistic, and coordinated to boost the confidence of residents, mainland compatriots, and the international community about Hong Kong’s economic prospects. The basic principles include solving Hong Kong’s development and people’s livelihood problems by accelerating its integration into the overall development of the country, promoting Hong Kong’s reform and development with a bold, enterprising and innovative attitude, daring to break and re-create, and developing ideas from an overall, forward-looking, systematic and strategic perspective. The SAR government has to chart scientifically the direction and blueprint for Hong Kong’s future reform and development.
This set of top-level development strategies must cover several aspects: 1. demonstrate a clear and realistic understanding and judgment of the changes in the international situation, especially the opportunities and challenges it brings to Hong Kong; 2. propose a response strategy to the increasingly severe suppression of Hong Kong by the US and its allies. The purpose is to avoid disasters while maintaining ties as far as possible with those countries; 3. analyze the central government’s major policies, the central government’s policies toward Hong Kong, especially the policies that benefit the city, and the country’s development direction, and propose how Hong Kong should cooperate with and assist the country’s development and how to promote its own development along with national development, particularly how Hong Kong can participate in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area project, the Belt and Road Initiative, and the 14th national Five-Year Plan (2021-25); 4. emphasize that Hong Kong must focus on accelerating its integration into the overall development of the country to solve Hong Kong’s deep-seated development, economic, social, people’s livelihoods, and reform problems; 5. propose significant projects for the future development of Hong Kong and formulate methods, timetables, and road maps for completing those projects, including support for emerging industries and key enterprises; 6. formulate a blueprint for building a fair and just society, mainly involving primary social, people’s livelihoods, labor, environmental protection, taxation, welfare, housing, elderly care, and young people’s policies and measures; 7. propose a plan to actively expand the space for Hong Kong’s international economic activities, including strengthening and building connections between Hong Kong and countries taking part in the BRI, Shanghai Cooperation Organization member states, BRICS countries, and other emerging economies and developing countries by building up Hong Kong as a center for high-end finance, services, logistics, shipping, supply chain, conferences, and exhibitions, higher education, legal arbitration, and art and culture in Eurasia; 8. clearly explain Hong Kong’s overall development strategy, and the connectivities of major polices; 9. propose various policies and measures that will help enhance Hong Kong’s unique advantages and international competitiveness in all aspects; 10. propose how to utilize new quality productive forces to promote development; 11. explain how this set of development strategies can not only enable Hong Kong to achieve long-term, sustainable, and high-quality development but also enable it to make new and unique contributions to the country’s new round of reform and opening-up; 12. propose major policies and measures to implement the development strategy; 13. elaborate on the difficulties and obstacles encountered in implementing development strategies and propose how to overcome them with the support of the central government and Hong Kong society; 14. implement the principle of “safeguarding integrity while innovating”, and promote various reforms on the premise of maintaining Hong Kong’s core features under “one country, two systems”.
To a certain extent, this development strategy should alleviate the concerns of Hong Kong residents, mainland compatriots, and overseas people about Hong Kong’s development prospects. Equally important is that the central government and the chief executive use this development strategy to ask each policy department to propose policies and measures related to their departmental functions that can be integrated into this strategy, contribute to realizing this strategy, and develop the plan accordingly. This development strategy can evaluate officials’ performance in various departments more effectively and accurately. At the same time, the central government and the chief executive need to integrate suggestions put forward by different policy departments, eliminate conflicts between them, plan and coordinate the work of various departments, and allocate the necessary resources.
To effectively implement the SAR government’s comprehensive and long-term development strategy, the SAR government must boldly and innovatively promote policy and system reforms in different areas. The government needs to significantly strengthen its strategic and policy research capabilities, interact closely with all sectors of society, and listen humbly to the opinions and suggestions of experts and scholars. Considering that Hong Kong is very short of talent engaged in long-term and macro development strategies, it is necessary to cooperate with experts and scholars from the mainland and learn from each other during the research process. The outdated thinking of “positive noninterventionism” and “small government, big market” must be jettisoned as soon as possible. Meanwhile, there are still people within the government who are resistant to Hong Kong’s integration into the overall development of the country and the central government’s guidance and plans for Hong Kong. They dare not resist openly but will set up various obstacles. It must be admitted that many SAR officials are unfamiliar with macro and long-term strategic research and believe that it is “false and vacuous” and, therefore, has no practical value. After all, in the British Hong Kong government, some officials became used to and agreed with a governance philosophy of “incrementalism” or “muddling through” and did not believe in long-term planning or had no confidence in it. However, without macro and long-term strategic thinking, it is difficult for Hong Kong to chart a long-term and comprehensive development path, let alone connect Hong Kong’s development strategy with the national development strategy. When promoting Hong Kong’s integration into overall national development, the core leaders of the SAR government must have strong strategic thinking, and they must unite, strengthen consensus, work in unison, and strengthen supervision and accountability for other relevant officials to ensure that the government’s policies are implemented correctly and accurately. The strategic thinking of other senior officials also needs to be continuously upgraded through training. At the same time, we must pay attention to the reforms’ systematic, holistic, and coordinated nature to achieve the most significant effects.
To promote the comprehensive and long-term development of Hong Kong with innovation and boldness, the SAR government cannot stick to the old ways and be complacent. It must occasionally make significant reforms to Hong Kong’s institutions and policies when needed. These reforms cover a wide range of areas, including reforms to the governance structure and methods to meet the needs of a proactive government actively involved in economic and social affairs and to build an efficient and innovative government. Work in this area includes establishing more diversified and resilient bonds and mechanisms for mutually beneficial cooperation between the government, the business community, and society so that the government has a greater ability to mobilize resources from the business community and all sectors of society; giving the government more extraordinary statutory powers, overcoming the obstruction of government policies and reforms by various vested interest groups and forces; reforming fiscal policies, education policies, land and housing policies, industrial policies, and labor welfare policies and various regulatory measures that are beneficial to Hong Kong’s comprehensive and long-term development and the advancement of social fairness and justice; abolishing rules and regulations that hinder efficient governance and allowing the government to do more. The ultimate goal of reform and development is to benefit all Hong Kong residents and promote fairness and justice. I believe the central government will fully support the significant reforms initiated by the SAR government.
In an era of rapid technological development, Hong Kong must significantly enhance its international competitiveness, promote industrial transformation and upgrading, improve the SAR’s governance capabilities and performance, and promote Hong Kong’s high-quality development. New quality productive forces must play a core role in all fields and institutions. New and old industries must upgrade their technological content as soon as possible to increase productivity. The SAR government and all sectors of society must strengthen their sense of urgency and fully understand that in the increasingly fierce international competitive environment. Hong Kong’s development is like sailing against the current — failure to advance will lead to retreat and retrogression. Vigorously supporting the innovative technology industry is conducive to strengthening the core role of new quality productive forces in Hong Kong’s reform and development. More importantly, the government and all sectors of society should have a deep understanding and belief in bold innovations in technology, institutions, and policies.
It is foreseeable that the spirit of the third plenary session will propel Hong Kong’s future takeoff. With the support, guidance, and supervision of the central government and the concerted efforts of the SAR government and all sectors of society to pursue reform and development, Hong Kong will have a better tomorrow.
The author is a professor emeritus of sociology, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and a consultant for the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macao Studies.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.
