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Some thoughts on the Two Sessions

The 2023 Two Sessions have recently commenced, following the successful conclusion of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China last year. Again, this year’s Two Sessions, during which China’s new state leadership was successfully elected, are of great significance. In particular, Xi Jinping was unanimously elected as the President of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the PRC. The long-lasting warm applause in the hall upon the announcement of the election result has reflected the common will and choice of the people of the whole nation. The election has fully demonstrated the whole-process democracy with Chinese characteristics, showcasing to the world that China’s strong core leadership enjoys the wholehearted support of its people and that nothing can stop China from moving forward.

The past decade has been an exceptional and extraordinary one. In the face of various risks and challenges, our country, under the strong leadership of the Party’s Central Committee with Xi Jinping at its core, has successfully united and led the whole nation to rise to challenges of various kinds brought by political, economic and epidemic-related issues and overcome obstacles one after another, with the implementation of a new development philosophy and a new development paradigm.

The 2023 Two Sessions are especially meaningful as this year marks the beginning of our country’s realisation of Chinese-style modernisation. In a new era of socialism with Chinese characteristics, the road towards the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation would be met with risks and obstacles along the way. Despite these difficulties and challenges, the Central Government has made full preparations, which include keeping the economy operating within an appropriate range, expanding domestic demand, remaining committed to opening up wider to the world and deepening international economic and trade co-operation for mutual benefits.

During the Two Sessions, various goals of economic development for the year were set, and more importantly, the point of “being committed to the primary task of pursuing high-quality development” was highlighted. Apart from identifying a path for us to promote high-quality development, the Central Government has also given us some specific advice on accelerating the realisation of high-level technological self‑reliance and promoting healthy development of private economy.

Hong Kong is now at a critical stage in its development. Now that the principle of “patriots administering Hong Kong” has taken deeper root in the city, we should focus on developing our economy by devoting our efforts and resources to the pursuit of high-quality development on all fronts. Through technological innovation as well as development of new models and systems, we should pursue more diversified and in-depth development of our economy, and enable the results produced to continuously translate into an enhancement of people’s quality of life, thereby giving our people a genuine sense of achievement and satisfaction.

Amid the profound changes in the world unseen in a century, we need to maintain the momentum of innovation in our financial markets and sustain their vibrant development so as to consolidate and enhance our strength as an international financial centre, while attaching great importance to co-ordinating development and security.

Meanwhile, the Government will spare no effort in accelerating technological innovation and application with a view to achieving high value-added development. Given the keen international competition, we will open up new areas and new arenas for development to foster new growth drivers and new strengths. Whether it is about the development of artificial intelligence, biotechnology, digital economy, the third generation Internet (Web3), or the establishment of an international green technology and financial centre, we should, in addition to pursuing progress while ensuring stability, seize the opportunity to promote fast and steady development, with a view to embracing the philosophy of pursuing high-quality development through “innovation, co-ordination, green, openness and sharing”.

The economy of our country is moving towards high-quality development, with a view to accelerating the realisation of high-level technological self‑reliance. To better integrate into the overall development of our country, Hong Kong must actively align with national development strategies, thereby creating more room for our future development.

In practising the great principle of “patriots administering Hong Kong”, we should flexibly integrate a “capable government” with an “efficient market”, and promote diversified economic development through the adoption of new development models. We should also better align our common law system and market rules with the legal systems and market mechanisms of developed countries, so as to give full play to our unique advantages of enjoying the strong support of the Motherland while being closely connected to the world in the global economy. It is our firm belief that, with staunch support from our country and our relentless efforts, we will be able to create new impetus and achieve another leap forward in our integration into national development.

March 12, 2023