We get it, CY ... One Belt, One Road gets record-breaking 48 mentions in policy address
ANALYSIS: Free of the constraints of accountability that would have been brought by universal suffrage, and with Beijing fully behind him, Leung was all business in the policy address, focusing on the national agenda
Leung Chun-ying, who has been tirelessly telling Hongkongers about the importance of seizing opportunities arising from the country’s “One Belt, One Road” strategy over the past two years, meant business when he delivered his fourth policy address.
“The Belt and Road ” – itself an improvisation from the original phrase – referring to the country’s push to drive cooperation among Eurasian countries along the ancient Silk Road, was mentioned 48 times by the chief executive during his two-hour speech.
It is the phrase which has appeared most frequently in any single policy address since the handover, surpassing oft-cited slogans like “one country, two systems”.
Initiatives to facilitate economic development, including measures to exploit the “One Belt, One Road” strategy and the HK$4.5 billion investment to promote innovation and technology, were the main themes of the policy speech which is seen as a make-or-break blueprint for Leung.
His repeated mantra of “One Belt, One Road” stood in sharp contrast to the omission of hot-potato topics such as political reform, growing anti-mainland sentiment and the rise of localism.
