Jonathan Choi:
Hong Kong must shift from “integration” to “serving” the overall national development
With the successful conclusion of the “Two Sessions,” Jonathan Choi, the Chamber’s Chairman and CPPCC Standing Committee Member, expressed his exhilaration upon returning from Beijing. He pointed out that against the complex backdrop of intensifying global geopolitical conflicts and rising protectionism, China’s economic output exceeded RMB 140 trillion, achieving a 5% annual growth rate. This achievement underscores the firm and correct leadership of the central government and the strong resilience of the Chinese economy.
During the “Two Sessions,” high-quality development as required by the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026–2030) emerged as the overarching theme. Artificial intelligence is rapidly empowering all sectors of China’s economy, while advancements in quantum technology, national defense industry, new energy and pharmaceuticals are evolving at an unprecedented pace. Choi believes that the surging momentum of scientific and technological innovation is driving the rapid development of new quality productive forces in China, injecting strong impetus into the transformation of traditional industries.
He further noted that the country is accelerating the development of a unified national market and striving to increase household income to boost consumption, opening up broader market prospects for all industries. As a “super connector” and “super value-added facilitator,” Hong Kong is poised to seize unlimited business opportunities from this trend.
During his brief stay of just over a week in Beijing, the intensification of global conflicts made Choi acutely aware that “China is one of the safest countries in the world.” He emphasized that this stability is something Hong Kong must cherish deeply. Hong Kong will formulate its first five-year development plan, a critical step in its transition from “integrating into” to “serving” the overall national development. Choi revealed that he repeatedly stressed during the “Two Sessions” that Hong Kong must firmly grasp this historic opportunity. Leveraging the unique advantages of “one country, two systems,” Hong Kong should contribute across multiple fronts—from finance and innovation and technology to the development of the Northern Metropolis, from the internationalization of traditional Chinese medicine standards to breakthroughs in “soft connectivity” in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (Greater Bay Area). By serving the nation, Hong Kong can achieve better development for itself and scale new heights of prosperity.
Ricky Tsang:
Cultivate interdisciplinary talents and develop healthcare & elderly care in the former central Soviet areas
Talent development and population aging are both key national priorities, and in response to these issues, Ricky Tsang, the Chamber’s Vice-Chairman and CPPCC National Committee Member, put forward proposals during the “Two Sessions.” He emphasized that interdisciplinary high-skilled talents are critical pillars for high-quality development during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, noting that while China’s total number of high-skilled talents has reached 70 million, sectors such as smart manufacturing and artificial intelligence urgently need a large number of interdisciplinary professionals. He suggested making the cultivation of interdisciplinary high-skilled talents a core focus of vocational education, introducing a package of incentive policies to deepen industry-education integration, increasing fiscal support for the joint construction of training bases by schools and enterprises, encouraging enterprises to participate in standard-setting, providing tax incentives and subsidies to enterprises engaged in in-depth cooperation, strengthening the cultivation of students’ comprehensive qualities, and fostering a social atmosphere where “skills lead to success and skills serve the country.”
In addition, Tsang proposed this year to revitalize the economy of the former central Soviet areas by taking the healthcare and elderly care industry as a breakthrough point. He noted that these areas boast advantages in ecology, revolutionary culture, Hakka traditions, and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), and as China has entered a moderately aging society with the population aged 60 and above exceeding 300 million, he suggested developing distinctive products such as revolutionary-themed healthcare, forest healthcare and TCM healthcare, improving transportation and medical care infrastructure, and building smart healthcare platforms. As Meizhou is the only prefecture-level city in Guangdong whose entire jurisdiction falls within the former central Soviet areas and a native of Meizhou himself, Tsang further proposed making Meizhou a demonstration and drainage zone to precisely connect with the consumer market of the Greater Bay Area, thereby driving economic revitalization and rural revitalization in the Soviet areas.
Tsang described this year’s “Two Sessions” as compact and efficient, with almost every group meeting attended by ministerial-level officials who responded to proposals—fully reflecting the state’s emphasis on CPPCC members’ advice. He stated that the Government Work Report is pragmatic and precise, injecting strong confidence into high-quality development and common prosperity.
Li Yinquan:
China has achieved remarkable development and set ambitious goals in its planning blueprint
When asked about his most profound impressions of this year’s “Two Sessions,” Li Yinquan, the Chamber Vice-Chairman and NPC Deputy, stated that since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the NPC has advanced legislative work with high quality and efficiency, achieving tremendous accomplishments. These include enacting a number of new laws, revising a batch of laws in response to changing realities, and conducting phased reviews and cleanups of existing legislation. China now has 308 effective laws in place, and the current legal framework boasts a high level of integrity, systematicity, coordination, and timeliness—marking the maturity of the socialist legal system with Chinese characteristics. As a three-term NPC deputy from Hong Kong, he feels privileged to have witnessed and participated in this process. With confidence, he can now tell the world that China has become a socialist country under the rule of law with Chinese characteristics, led by the Communist Party of China.
Regarding the Government Work Report, Li is deeply impressed by the country’s extraordinary development achievements and admires the ambitious blueprint and goals laid out in the report. The Government Work Report notes that by 2035, China’s per capita GDP will double from the 2020 level, reaching that of moderately developed countries. He analyzed that by then, China’s total GDP will exceed RMB 210 trillion, and per capita GDP will surpass USD 21,000. This reflects the Communist Party’s ideological line of seeking truth from facts—facing difficulties and challenges rationally, candidly, and courageously. The report not only sets proactive yet pragmatic and steady work arrangements for 2026 but also puts forward the Outline of the 15th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development (2026–2030), drawing a blueprint for the country’s development in the next five years and beyond. He firmly believes that China is fully capable of achieving all its 2026 work objectives, as well as the goals of the 15th Five-Year Plan and the long-term vision for 2035.
Andrew Yao:
Embrace tech, empower Mainland firms’ global expansion
The National People’s Congress has adopted the Outline of the 15th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development (2026–2030), which lays out 109 major projects across six areas. This not only charts a grand blueprint for the country’s future development but also brings boundless business opportunities to Hong Kong. Andrew Yao, Vice-Chairman of the Chamber and NPC Deputy, believes the plan can be summed up in these words: “Embrace technology, embrace new industries.”
Centered on fostering new quality productive forces, the plan calls for nurturing new industries and emerging growth sectors, and clarifies cutting-edge technological research priorities. Yao argues Hong Kong should seize this opportunity, taking the Northern Metropolis as a bridgehead to attract Mainland and multinational companies to set up operations, drive the landing of related industries in Hong Kong, and forge a deep “R&D + manufacturing” cooperation framework with the Greater Bay Area. This will enable Hong Kong to absorb high-end technological spillovers from the Mainland and support the upgrading of the national industrial chain.
Yao also stresses seizing the national policy support for Hong Kong to consolidate and enhance its status as an international financial, shipping, and trade hub. In finance, he says Hong Kong must strengthen its edge as a global offshore RMB business hub and push to build an international gold trading center. This will facilitate Mainland investors to store physical gold in Hong Kong vaults and conduct physical gold delivery, while improving the efficiency of cross-border mutual recognition of physical gold between the two places. Moreover, Hong Kong should assist leading Mainland enterprises, central state-owned enterprises, and local state-owned enterprises in expanding their products and services to global markets via Hong Kong.
To consolidate Hong Kong’s role as an international shipping hub, Yao proposes building a “Greater Bay Area Combined Port” model. He suggests Mainland authorities take the lead in establishing a Greater Bay Area port coordination mechanism to rationalize the functional division of the port cluster. This would divert some international transshipment and high-value-added cargo from Nansha Port and Shenzhen Port to Hong Kong.
Yao emphasizes that the HKSAR Government must proactively align its Five-Year Plan with the national 15th Five-Year Plan Outline, clarify Hong Kong’s positioning in the national industrial chain, and strengthen cross-departmental coordination and implementation. This will turn national major projects into new growth drivers for Hong Kong’s economy.
Kevin Fan:
Facilitate cross-border scientific research and boost youth exchanges
How local SMEs and the younger generation in Hong Kong can integrate into national development has long been a concern for many Hong Kong residents. Kevin Fan, the Chamber’s Vice-Chairman and CPPCC National Committee Member, has put forward a number of proposals on this issue. First, he suggested building a "pilot zone" for rule alignment in the Greater Bay Area. Noting that the Hetao Area and Qianhai are core carriers for cross-border cooperation, he proposed taking these two areas as the foundation to implement measures for the cross-border facilitation of scientific research elements, promote the mutual recognition of professional service qualifications, optimize cross-border customs clearance and trade facilitation, effectively remove bottlenecks in the flow of production factors, and enable the efficient connection of resources between the two sides. Second, he proposed reshaping the coordination mechanism for governance and industries. He argued that special task forces could be set up to coordinate with central ministries and commissions as well as Mainland provinces and cities; a full-chain ecosystem for scientific and technological innovation (STI) should be built, with the establishment of an STI mother fund and the development of STI finance to address the financing difficulties of enterprises; at the same time, Hong Kong’s traditional strengths should be enhanced, and the standards of offshore RMB business and legal services for the Belt and Road Initiative should be raised.
Fan also holds that the integration mechanism for youth development and people’s livelihood must be improved. He suggested setting up a Greater Bay Area Youth Development Fund and expanding youth exchange programs with the Mainland to support Hong Kong young people in entrepreneurship and employment; expanding people’s livelihood policies such as the “Hong Kong-Macao Medicine and Medical Devices Connect” scheme, and realizing the cross-border handling of high-frequency matters including social security and housing provident funds; establishing SME service centers to help them integrate into the Mainland supply chain and achieve high-quality development. In addition, he hopes to strengthen top-level design and supervision of policy implementation. He proposed establishing a promotion mechanism, improving the regular consultation mechanism with central ministries and commissions, and perfecting the reform evaluation mechanism, as well as formulating relevant regulations. This will safeguard Hong Kong’s integration into the overall national development through the rule of law, ensure that all reform measures are effectively implemented, and contribute to Hong Kong’s long-term prosperity and stability.
David Fong:
Hong Kong embarks on a new journey with the 15th Five-Year Plan
Despite the complex and severe domestic and international circumstances over the past year, China’s economy has demonstrated strong resilience. David Fong, the Chamber’s Life Honorary Chairman and CPPCC National Committee Member, believes these achievements have not come easily. He points out that Hong Kong will formulate its first five-year development plan, which will enable a more comprehensive and precise deployment of key development areas, enhance governance efficiency, consolidate its unique advantages, and align with the overall national development. This milestone initiative will usher Hong Kong into a state of “higher levels, broader vision, clearer direction, more practical actions, and stronger outcomes.” As a CPPCC member, he feels duty-bound to fully leverage his dual positive role: offering insights and suggestions for national development, and promoting and interpreting the spirit of the “Two Sessions” in Hong Kong society, uniting forces from all sectors to support the HKSAR government in governing in accordance with the law.
Fong further notes that another highlight of this year’s “Two Sessions” for him was the great emphasis placed on advancing the Healthy China initiative. The sessions stressed improving public health services, elevating primary medical care levels, caring for the health of women, children, and the elderly, promoting the deployment of high-quality medical resources, introducing advanced medical equipment, and safeguarding public health with compassion and responsibility. This aligns closely with the longstanding focus of his family’s charitable foundation. Therefore, he is even more determined to continue giving back to society with concrete actions and implementing the spirit of the “Two Sessions.”
He describes the successful conclusion of the 14th Five-Year Plan and the formulation of the blueprint for the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026–2030) as providing a broad stage for Hong Kong and Macao to serve the overall national development. Looking ahead, he hopes to contribute with greater enthusiasm and a more pragmatic approach to the steady and sustained implementation of “One Country, Two Systems” and to Hong Kong’s prosperity and stability.
Tommy Li:
Enhancing the competitiveness of the traditional chinese medicine industry
The country’s 15th Five-Year Plan explicitly puts forward reform, innovation, and the integration of traditional Chinese and Western medicine, providing a clear direction for the high-quality development of TCM. Tommy Li, the Chamber’s Life Honorary Chairman and NPC Deputy, believes that the central government can take the lead in establishing a Policy Committee for Promoting TCM Development in the Greater Bay Area to boost regional coordinated development and elevate overall competitiveness. Meanwhile, Hong Kong should leverage its own strengths to become an international hub for TCM’s “going global” and “bringing in” initiatives, and drive the alignment of TCM rules in the Greater Bay Area with international standards.
As an important bridge connecting the Mainland and the world, Hong Kong can deepen cooperation with the Greater Bay Area to build a world-class TCM highland. Li proposes accelerating the expansion of the variety of TCM standards in the Greater Bay Area and gradually promoting them to overseas markets, so as to raise the level of standardization and internationalization. At the same time, Hong Kong can set up an International Standard and Certification Center for TCM in the Greater Bay Area to coordinate standard-setting, testing, and quality control, develop clinical guidelines with international recognition, and release research findings, thereby enhancing global trust in and willingness to use TCM. In addition, he suggests establishing a TCM Talent Complementation Program for the Greater Bay Area to institutionalize talent exchanges between the two sides and comprehensively improve clinical and research capabilities.
Li points out that the permanent building of the Government Chinese Medicines Testing Centre was completed and put into use at the end of last year. At this juncture, establishing a National Key Laboratory for TCM Identification in Hong Kong will not only support the country in accelerating the construction of a TCM standard system and promoting TCM internationalization, but also cultivate professional talents and enhance China’s leading position in global herbal medicine research. The laboratory can use scientific methods to ensure the safety of clinical medication and international trade, undertake major national and Greater Bay Area research projects, and cooperate with the “New Era Shennong Tasting Hundred Herbs” initiative to promote exchanges and mutual learning among traditional medicines of various countries. Meanwhile, the laboratory can also build an international quality standard platform and regularly hold academic conferences and research forums, further elevating China’s voice in the global field of traditional medicine.
Rock Chen:
“Two Sessions” map out grand blueprint for national development
Rock Chen, the Chamber’s Life Honorary Chairman and NPC Deputy, pointed out that the Outline of the 15th Five-Year Plan takes high-quality development as its core and prioritizes promoting self-reliance and self-improvement in science and technology, laying a solid foundation for the country to explore emerging industries and future-oriented sectors. The plan features a dedicated chapter on Hong Kong and Macao, explicitly requiring Hong Kong to further consolidate and enhance its status as an international financial, shipping and trade center, providing clear guidance for Hong Kong’s future development.
Chen emphasized that Hong Kong must leverage its strengths to actively integrate into and serve the overall national development strategy, and has great potential to contribute to the country’s goal of building a financial powerhouse. By deepening interconnectivity with Mainland financial markets, Hong Kong can further strengthen its role as an offshore renminbi business hub. Meanwhile, he specifically noted that Hong Kong should seize opportunities in the commodity market, promote unified end-to-end processing of gold trading, and establish a Gold Connect scheme to address market liquidity issues, laying a solid foundation for the high-quality development of Hong Kong’s gold market. In addition, the development of the Northern Metropolis should be accelerated to attract top international and mainland enterprises to set up operations, thereby enhancing Hong Kong’s competitiveness.
Chen believes that the upcoming formulation of Hong Kong’s first Five-Year Plan by the HKSAR government, which will align with national plans, is of profound significance. This plan will not only provide clear policy directions and timelines for Hong Kong over the next five years but also ensure the sustainable implementation of relevant policies. He stressed that the participation of the government, business sector and the public in the formulation and implementation of the plan is crucial, and the business community can in particular provide valuable insights and suggestions to the government.
Herman Hu:
Hong Kong residents as people’s assessors for national judicial understanding
Herman Hu, the Chamber’s Life Honorary Chairman and NPC Deputy, submitted multiple proposals focusing on the integration of Hong Kong’s development with the nation’s during this year’s “Two Sessions”. He proposed establishing a system for Hong Kong residents to serve as people’s assessors, drawing on pilot experiences from the Greater Bay Area and the International Commercial Court to legalize, standardize, and institutionalize the mechanism. Leveraging Hong Kong residents’ language advantages, global vision, and trade experience, this would enhance the efficiency of trying foreign-related cases, boost overseas investors’ confidence in the Mainland’s judiciary, and enable Hong Kong people to gain a deeper understanding of the national judicial system.
In addition, he suggested gradually opening government internship positions to Hong Kong university students, helping young people in Hong Kong understand the national governance model, enhance their sense of national identity, and cultivate versatile talents proficient in both regions. He also proposed promoting the learning and use of traditional Chinese characters. Building on the cultural value of traditional characters and their usage foundation in Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan, this initiative aims to deepen public cultural heritage, carry forward fine traditional Chinese culture, strengthen cultural confidence, and facilitate the international dissemination of Chinese culture.
After attending this year’s “Two Sessions”, Hu expressed deep sentiments. First, all KPIs in the Government Work Report were exceeded, making him keenly aware of the nation’s extraordinary execution capabilities. With the country setting multiple hard targets for the future, he firmly believes in the country’s commitment to delivering on its promises and holds high expectations for future development. Meanwhile, the country’s emphasis on Hong Kong’s participation in national development made him feel the country’s great care for Hong Kong, warming his heart. Furthermore, a heavy snowfall—unseen for many years—occurred on the opening day of the “Two Sessions”. He regarded this as an auspicious sign that “a timely snow promises a good harvest”, foretelling even better development for both the nation and Hong Kong.
