How Hong Kong’s role in Beijing’s economic strategy could evolve in the next 5 years
From stablecoins to yuan internationalisation, analysts weigh the city’s place – and Taiwan’s – in the coming five-year plan
As China drafts its 15th five-year plan – the next entry in a line of expansive blueprints that have set the tone for the country’s development over more than seven decades – we examine how these documents inform and reflect high-level policy priorities, what to expect in the coming iteration and how Hong Kong could strengthen its position as a “superconnector” linking the mainland with global markets.
In a LinkedIn post earlier this month, Phil McManus, innovation and technology chair at the British Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong, declared: “Hong Kong bounced back. It always has. It always will.”
But these doubts have eased in the wake of a rising stock index, a surge in fundraising and the city’s growing appeal to global businesses and talent. As Beijing drafts its 15th five-year plan, the country’s main socio-economic development blueprint, analysts said the special administrative region could play a unique role in China’s evolving economic strategy.
“Put simply, Hong Kong’s position in China’s next five-year plan will determine the policies and resources Beijing directs its way,” said Raymond Yeung, chief economist for Greater China at ANZ.
Like other regions in China, Hong Kong, along with Macau and Taiwan, has seen its economic trajectory shaped in large part by Beijing’s policy decisions.
Since the 1997 handover, the former British colony has become more deeply integrated with mainland China. Beijing’s Greater Bay Area strategy, which integrates Hong Kong, Macau and Guangdong province into an economic cluster, complements a range of initiatives that reinforce Hong Kong’s “superconnector” role in global financial markets.