Lam: Mainland support benefits HK
Leader’s Policy Address sets out range of measures to revive city’s economy
The steadfast support of the central government will add fresh impetus to Hong Kong’s economy and help the city better integrate into overall national development, Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet- ngor said on Wednesday when delivering her fourth Policy Address.
The address came after Lam’s visit to Beijing and Guangdong province to seek support for economic revival, which highlighted the central government’s backing for Hong Kong’s deeper involvement in national development.
The support was shown in various areas, such as further integrating Hong Kong i nto Guangdong- Hong Kong- Macao Greater Bay Area development, maintaining its status as a global finance and aviation center and boosting its innovation and technological development.
The measures also include facilitating the entry of Hong Kong enterprises into the mainland market, offering vaccines for the city to fight the epidemic and improving the infrastructure of boundary control points between Hong Kong and Shenzhen.
Severely battered by the pandemic and social unrest, Hong Kong’s road to economic recovery faces various difficulties, Lam said. In comparison, the mainland has seen a quick economic rebound and put forward a new “dual- circulation” development paradigm.
Benefiting from its proximity to the mainland and the central government’s firm support, Hong Kong can continue to capitalize on its strengths to serve the country’s needs, with proactive participation in dual circulation development, Lam said.
Given the advantages of “one country, two systems”, Hong Kong can take the Greater Bay Area development as an entry point to become a participant in domestic circulation and a facilitator of international circulation, she continued.
To drive forward these favorable policies, the city needs to comprehensively and accurately implement the principles of “one country, two systems”, “Hong Kong people administering Hong Kong” and a high degree of autonomy, Lam stressed.
Given Hong Kong’s political challenges in recent years, Lam said that an urgent priority is to restore constitutional order. After the implementation of the National Security Law in June, the city’s stability has remarkably improved, she said.
The address included around 200 new measures, including major policy initiatives on housing, youth employment, and innovation and technology.
Lam said the government has identified 330 hectares of land to build 316,000 public housing units, satisfying demand for public housing over the next decade.
Meanwhile, the authorities have earmarked HK$ 100 million ($ 12.9 million) to subsidize 200 youth startups via a new funding program. Another program will be launched to encourage enterprises with Greater Bay Area operations to recruit up to 2,000 university graduates from Hong Kong.
Regarding innovation and technology, the government will launch a HK$ 2 billion five- year program to attract outstanding overseas talents.
Finally, there is light at the end of the tunnel for Hong Kong residents whose livelihoods have been hit by the battering the special administrative region’s economy has taken from the months of antigovernment disturbances and the COVID- 19 pandemic.
The new policy blueprint HKSAR Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet- ngor unveiled on Wednesday will go a long way toward resolving the social problems that have plagued the SAR and getting its economy back on its feet.
Delivering her delayed annual policy address, Lam said that Hong Kong had experienced multiple blows from the social unrest, shrinking economy, pandemic and acts that “endangered national security”, creating a situation that was “unprecedented”.
Priority has rightly been given to the task of restoring Hong Kong’s constitutional order and the proper functioning of the political system in the chief executive’s fourth policy address.
Implementing the measures the chief executive outlined will free Hong Kong from the dysfunctional political wrangling it has endured over recent years, allowing it to refocus on development.
Hong Kong residents can also take heart from the numerous measures proposed in the new policy address that are aimed at improving people’s well- being. These include efforts to enhance residents’ livelihoods by strengthening and diversifying economic development. The chief executive successfully secured the central government’s support for policies in seven areas such as finance, aviation, technology and health.
Both short- and longer- term measures have also been announced to ease the city’s severe housing shortage which is the root cause of much of the deep- seated anger at the government. Most notably, the chief executive unambiguously reaffirmed the ambitious reclamation plan will go ahead to meaningfully increase land and housing supply in the city.
The chief executive ended her policy address with a note of optimism, assuring Hong Kong people they would be seeing “a rainbow after the storm”.
She has reasons to be optimistic. With the implementation of Hong Kong’s new national security law, social order in the city has been effectively restored, hostile forces have mostly receded and radicals have been kept at bay. And with the central authorities giving their full support to the measures in the new policy blueprint she has just unveiled and promoting the greater integration of Hong Kong into the overall development of the country, the city can have confidence there is a bright future ahead.
This year will be viewed as a major milestone for the special administrative region for the right reasons.