Hong Kong’s Five-Year Plan will adhere to ‘capitalist system’ and One Country, Two Systems principle – leader John Lee
Hong Kong leader John Lee has said that the city’s first five-year blueprint aligning with mainland China’s development goals will adhere to the city’s “capitalist system” and uphold the One Country, Two Systems governing principle.
Chief Executive Lee made the remarks in a Monday op-ed addressing concerns about whether his Five-Year Plan, set to be announced on Wednesday alongside the final Policy Address of his current term, would change Hong Kong’s existing system.
The article was published in local newspapers including Ming Pao and the Hong Kong Economic Journal, as well as state-affiliated newspapers Ta Kung Pao and Wen Wei Po.
The One Country, Two Systems framework, set for a 50-year period leading up to 2047, is intended to allow Hong Kong to maintain its capitalist system, independent judiciary, legal framework, and civil liberties.
‘Rule of law and capitalist system’
Lee wrote in the Monday article that he had been asked whether formulating a Five-Year Plan in lockstep with the mainland would alter Hong Kong’s existing constitutional system.
“I emphasise: the Five-Year Plan will adhere strictly to Hong Kong’s rule of law and capitalist system, faithfully implement the Basic Law, and uphold the principle of ‘One Country, Two Systems’ without change or deviation,” Lee said.
It will also maintain the city’s position as an international hub and preserve the free flow of capital, talent, goods, and data, “fully unleashing the flexibility and advantages of a capitalist market,” he said.
“As president Xi Jinping has repeatedly noted, ‘One Country, Two Systems’ is a good system that must be adhered to in the long term,” Lee added.
China unveiled its 15th National Five-Year Plan during the high-level “Two Sessions” meetings earlier this year. Ahead of the meetings, Hong Kong announced that it would deliver its own version of the document guiding the city’s development over the next half-decade.
At a press conference last month, Lee said that the plan will lay out the “direction and strategy” for Hong Kong’s development, and the Policy Address will “turn the blueprint into policy measures.”
“The Five-Year Plan drafts the long-term blueprint and strategic trajectory for Hong Kong, while the Policy Address acts as the annual implementation report and policy focus for that year,” he said in the Monday article.
Economic policies such as the Northern Metropolis megaproject and initiatives to strengthen ties across the Greater Bay Area would “help citizens live better lives and achieve greater personal development” and drive upward social mobility, Lee said.
Lee also cited an AI-assisted analysis of submissions under a consultation exercise suggesting that the public supports the drafting of the Five-Year Plan.
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James Lee is a reporter at Hong Kong Free Press with an interest in culture and social issues. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in English and a minor in Journalism from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, where he witnessed the institution’s transformation over the course of the 2019 extradition bill protests and after the passing of the Beijing-imposed security law.
Since joining HKFP in 2023, he has covered local politics, the city’s housing crisis, as well as landmark court cases including the 47 democrats national security trial. He was previously a reporter at The Standard where he interviewed pro-establishment heavyweights and extensively covered the Covid-19 pandemic and Hong Kong’s political overhauls under the national security law.
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