By South China Morning Post | Created at 2025-03-10 01:33:14 | Updated at 2025-03-10 06:27:35
4 hours ago
If anyone has been feeling a little insecure about Hong Kong’s role in the national scheme of things, this year’s “two sessions” in Beijing should provide some assurance. The country’s leaders are very clear on what they see as this city’s unique role in national development.
In the government’s annual work report delivered by Premier Li Qiang, the section dedicated to Hong Kong and Macau said the central government would support the two special administrative regions in “growing their economies, improving the lives of their people, and deepening international exchanges and cooperation”.
It is crucial to note that the last time the work report highlighted Hong Kong’s role in helping the country open up was in 2017. This city has been playing a role as a superconnector for decades, and previous administrations were ambitious for Hong Kong to be on a par with cities like London and New York.
The country counts on Hong Kong now and again to be its window to the world, for the purposes of international cooperation, and even though the city has the experience for this role, we can’t simply fall back on our old ways in a changing world.
Reimagining and redefining the city’s role for today is a job for our leaders. For the remainder of his term, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu must make sure the city lives up to the central government’s expectations.
In responding to the work report, Lee said his government would use “creative thinking” to speed up the city’s development into an international innovation and technology hub with the Northern Metropolis and the Hetao Shenzhen-Hong Kong Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation Zone.
