00:00A five-year plan for Hong Kong might sound like a contradiction.
00:03It is a first for the city.
00:05Long considered a bastion of capitalism,
00:08Hong Kong is now embracing a government-led planning tool
00:11and further aligning it with the mainland's 15th five-year plan.
00:15Chief Executive John Lee plans to unveil that blueprint here at the Legislative Council
00:20before delivering his policy address.
00:23This comes after a two-month public consultation, which drew over 16,000 submissions.
00:28Officials have called the approach market-led and government-guided.
00:33Hong Kong's political environment is also playing a role in this development.
00:38The political reality here is how much Beijing has tightened its control on Hong Kong.
00:44It is easy to imagine that before 2019,
00:47trying to introduce a five-year plan in Hong Kong would draw so much pushback
00:51from opposition lawmakers, political activists, parts of the media and civil society.
00:57But that kind of dissent is no longer in Hong Kong, at least in public.
01:02At the heart of the proposal is the northern metropolis.
01:06Now I am standing just a stone's throw away from the Hong Kong and China border.
01:11That skyline you see behind me, that's the city of Shenzhen.
01:15Here, construction is underway for the northern metropolis.
01:18This was a plan that was proposed back in 2021 and will span across 300 square kilometers.
01:26That's estimated to be more than five times the size of Manhattan.
01:30And the plan calls for building 70,000 housing units,
01:34one million square meters of commercial floor area over the next five years.
01:39And more prominently, this place one day could become a university town,
01:44attracting schools and talent for key industries like tech.
01:48It also points to technology as a top priority,
01:51as Hong Kong looks for new growth drivers to diversify beyond its dependence on finance and property.
01:57Authorities propose targeting new industries like AI, biotech, microelectronics and advanced manufacturing.
02:05Yet traditional pillars remain vital.
02:08The plan reinforces Hong Kong's role as China's primary offshore Renminbi hub and international financial gateway,
02:15while also boosting Hong Kong's global appeal with tourism, sporting events and a so-called mega event economy.
02:22I think what's the best Hong Kong can do is to reinforce its already advantage, you know,
02:28in financial, in logistics, you know, in law, in those kind of, you know, services,
02:34which can, you know, provide, you know, better service for the manufacturing side in the mainland.
02:41The five-year plan would extend beyond John Lee's current term,
02:44which could set the blueprint for future administrations to come.
02:48John Lee has obviously put his personal stamp on the five-year plan, right?
02:52But the big question here is that whether he can actually get another term to see it through.
02:58And we all know that, you know, the decision is ultimately made in Beijing.
03:02The challenge now? Proving the mainland's approach to longer-term national planning can accelerate growth
03:08without compromising the free market edge that built this city.
03:13Yvonne Mann, Bloomberg News, Hong Kong.
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