This year marks the opening year of the "15th Five-Year Plan," and Hong Kong will formulate its first independent "Fivear Plan" to proactively align with the national "15th Five-Year Plan." Li Hui-chung, a member of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress and Pres Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), revealed during the National Two Sessions in Beijing that various policy bureaus of the HKSAR Government have successivelyished preparatory groups, which will later be converted into alignment working groups to engage in policy formulation. Li Hui-chung explained that the Legislative Council of the HKSAR ha established the "Sub-committee on Hong Kong's Proactive Alignment with the National '15th Five-Year Plan'" to follow up on alignment matters. On this basis, vart committees can conduct in-depth research on specific topics such as innovation and technology, green development, and livelihood security within their respective policy scopes. By organizing multi-disciplinary expert discussions andher means to widely collect opinions, they can provide references for government policy-making, ensuring that Hong Kong is accurately positioned and effectively contributes within the overall national development landscape. "The Legislative Council needs to y strengthen exchanges and cooperation with think tanks and experts to transform research findings into policy proposals," Li Hui-chung noted. Currently, many think tanks in Hong Kong and the e conducting in-depth research on Hong Kong's development positioning and functional role. If these research findings can be discussed, promoted, and implemented through the Legislative Council platform, it will helpe scientific rigor and foresight of the research, making it an important reference for the HKSAR Government to optimize its policies.

Li Huiqiong explained that to ensure that public opinion and sentiments in Hong Kong are fully absorbed and adopted, the Legislative Council of Hong Kong requires leslators to "go deep into the community and engage with different sectors" to understand the thoughts of citizens and the actual difficulties and opportunities faced by various industries. "It is expected that witthe next few months, all legislators will establish district or sectoral offices to listen to the voices of citizens and the industry through diversified channels and gather opinions." "Actively aligning with e national '15th Five-Year Plan' to create greater space and opportunities for Hong Kong's future development has become the mainstream public opinion in Hong Kong society," said Ch Zhenying, a deputy to the National People's Congress (NPC) and Chairman of the House Committee of the Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. He noted that important revisions and vements were made to the draft Law on National Development Planning before it was submitted for deliberation at the fourth session of the 14th NPC—specifically, the addition of provisioncerning Hong Kong and Macao. On March 5, the explanation of the draft Law on National Development Planning by the Standing Committee of the NPC mentioned that Chapter VI, "Supply Provisions," of the draft mainly stipulates principles regarding requirements for local development planning work and national support for Hong Kong and Macao to actively align with the national development planning. This includeitly stating that the country adheres to the "One Country, Two Systems" principle, supports the Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions in actively aligning with the national development planning, and integrating into and serving the overall national development.

Reporters noted that the third draft of the law, released in December 2025, contained no provisions related to Hong ng and Macao. Chen Zhenying believes that by explicitly reflecting the roles of Hong Kong and Macao in specific provisions of the country's first development planning law, the state fully demotes its firm support and earnest expectations for Hong Kong and Macao to play a greater role and assume a more important position in national development. This shows that the central government respects thegh degree of autonomy of the Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions, encourages the governments of Hong Kong and Macao to act as "masters of their own house," and actively ms the action and enthusiasm of the whole society to contribute to national development. Zhu Yueru, a deputy to the National People's Congress and President of the Hong Kong University ofd Technology, has gained a new understanding of Hong Kong's role positioning. She believes that in the new stage, the country has entrusted Hong Kong with a more important mission: Hoong must not only integrate into the overall national development but also actively serve the overall national strategy. Hong Kong should not merely be content with riding the "fast train" of national developme instead, it should precisely align its advantages in internationalization and professional services with national development needs, contributing Hong Kong's strength to achieving higher-level opening up and cooperationeru proposed suggestions from the two dimensions of education and scientific research. In terms of education, she suggested leveraging the "Northern Metropolis" to gather international high-end talents and build ald-class hub for higher education. On one hand, actively absorb top overseas scholars seeking a stable research environment; on the other hand, attract outstanding young people from all over the world to puther studies in Hong Kong by providing high-quality international education.

According to public information, the Hong Kong SAR Government has reserved approximately 90 hectares of land in the Northern Metropolis for the devea university city. The three batches of land for the university city are expected to be available for use as early as 2026,2028, and 2030, respectively. Zhu Yueru suggested introducing policies to encourage cooperation between Hong Kong and renowned institutions from the mainland and overseas. She proposed adopting flexible and innovative modeldevelop more branded courses, research collaborations, and exchange programs in the Northern Metropolis University Education City, thereby providing strong support for the country's strategy of building a talent-strong nationg scientific research, Zhu Yueru suggested leveraging Hong Kong's research advantages to establish national-level research platforms, assisting the country in achieving high-level self-reliance and strength ind technology. "Hong Kong has a solid foundation in scientific research and the capability to undertake major national research tasks; Hong Kong scientists also possess high enthusiasm and initiative to participate in major nati science and technology plans and promote national technological innovation." Zhu Yueru believes that establishing national-level research platforms in Hong Kong can integrate existing research platforms and resources, including thelth Research Institute and the Artificial Intelligence Research Institute currently under construction, as well as resources from Hong Kong universities, national key laboratories, and InnoHK. This would break down institutional disciplinary boundaries to build an integrated innovation chain of "basic research-technology breakthroughs-application transformation." It aims to drive major breakthroughs in frontier research and technology fields, providingrce of power for the development of new quality productive forces.

In the view of Yang Debao, a deputy to the National People's Congress and a member of the Digital Economy Development Committee of the Hong Kong SAR govnment, the "15th Five-Year Plan" period represents a strategic opportunity for Hong Kong to break through its own bottlenecks and reshape its competitive advantages. "I will bring the srit of the 'Two Sessions' back to Hong Kong, build consensus, and actively offer advice and suggestions," said Yang Debao, who felt a sense of "responsibility." He stas witnesses and promoters of the practice of "one country, two systems," deputies from Hong Kong to the National People's Congress deeply felt the heavy responsibility on their shoulde "We need to encourage all sectors in Hong Kong, especially the younger generation, to integrate their personal development with the emerging and future industries outlined in the country's '15th Five-ar Plan.'" (Liaoxin News Agency)