Members’ Motion： “Formulating a development vision for the HKSAR to actively dovetail with the National 15th Five-Year Plan”
President, the 15th Five-Year Plan not only establishes a top-level design and strategic blueprint for the country’s development in the next five years, but also points the way, sets goals and presents opportunities for Hong Kong’s high-quality development. Hence, early planning is crucial. I am very grateful to Mr Erik YIM for proposing such an important motion in the inaugural year.
To dovetail with the 15th Five-Year Plan, Hong Kong’s participation strategy revolves around two keywords. The first one is “proactive”. Instead of passively waiting for favourable policies from the Mainland, we should proactively reach out, conduct research, explore opportunities, propose alignment plans across various sectors, and seize opportunities in the overall development. The second one is “comprehensive”. Instead of relying on individual sectors to act separately, we should foster society-wide, cross-sectoral and cross-industry participation, pursuing integrated development that leverages complementary strengths.
For example, with regard to the financial sector, advancing the internationalization of RMB is not only beneficial for consolidating and enhancing our status as an international financial centre, but can also empower various industries. It is also a significant measure for the country to expand high-standard opening-up during the 15th Five-Year Plan period.
Take the offshore RMB bond market as an example. As the maturity of most issuances is three to five years, it is difficult to form a benchmark yield. Consequently, the vast majority of bonds are held to maturity, resulting in limited trading activity. The Government should discuss with the Ministry of Finance and other relevant ministries to establish a robust, long-term offshore RMB bond issuance programme in Hong Kong that advocates for the issuance of more 10-year, 15-year or even longer-term bonds. This will gradually build a transparent and reliable yield curve, so as to improve liquidity in the secondary market and foster the development of offshore RMB business.
Furthermore, as gold serves as an important safe-haven asset and commodity, the Government may leverage the advantages of the offshore pool of RMB funds to encourage the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited and financial institutions to design and issue more RMB-denominated gold-pegged innovative investment products, and promote connectivity between Hong Kong’s gold market and the Mainland, thereby capitalizing on the Mainland’s gold consumption power alongside Hong Kong’s capabilities in trade settlement and product innovation to enhance Hong Kong’s participation and pricing influence in the international gold market.
The 15th Five-Year Plan identifies greater self-reliance and strength in science and technology as one of the main goals for economic and social development. The 2025 Central Economic Work Conference emphasized the need to guide financial institutions to scale up support for domestic demand expansion, technology innovation, micro, small and medium enterprises, and other key areas. Finance remains increasingly vital to innovation and technology (“I&T”) development. Whether it is a newly established micro-enterprise or a leading enterprise, all require financial support. In addition to providing full lifecycle and full-chain financial services for technology enterprises, it is also necessary to take more substantive measures to support the financial sector in seizing the I&T wave, developing fintech, and enhancing service quality and efficiency. The SAR Government should foster an institutional environment conducive to deep integration between the two sectors, encouraging concerted efforts across all sectors to facilitate the transformation of innovative achievements.
Currently, financial institutions that apply technology to introduce new products and services may enjoy double tax deductions on their technology expenditure. However, third-party certification required by regulators to prove compliance with risk control, data protection and other regulations often costs a few millions or even 10 million dollars, yet these expenses do not qualify for equivalent tax deductions. If the Government could provide double tax deductions for these related expenses, it would likely encourage the industry to allocate more resources in developing fintech, thereby accelerating I&T transformation.
Hong Kong’s positioning in the national development has gradually evolved from brief mentions to deep integration. Consequently, there is a growing need among various sectors of society for greater awareness and understanding of the national macro-level planning. After the promulgation of the 15th Five-Year Plan, it is imperative to enhance publicity through diverse channels. We propose organizing more public seminars or producing special programmes to explain the content in plain language, incorporating dedicated sections on the opportunities presented to Hong Kong, so as to enable more people to understand this crucial national strategic framework and foster consensus. Whether in aligning with the 15th Five-Year Plan or formulating development visions, Hong Kong should play an active role in the financial and technological sectors, and make greater contribution in serving the country’s strategic needs of self-reliance and strength in science and technology and high-standard opening up.
President, I support the original motion and the two amendments. I so submit.