Hopefully, people of different opinions will respond positively in the interests of society as a whole so that the Policy Address’s blueprint and vision can be realized, with everyone working together to build a harmonious and prosperous society where people can live and work in peace and happiness.

Policy Address commendable

Just as what society expected, the new Chief Executive’s maiden Policy Address clearly presents her blueprint for Hong Kong in the next five years and fully exhibits the new governance style she has promised during the election campaign, which includes listening to the views of different people, adopting forward-looking and strategic fiscal policies, and taking the courage to invest in the future. In summary, the Policy Address is bold and decisive in adopting a multi-pronged approach in dealing with the bottleneck-plagued economic development and accumulated social conflicts, which deserves a positive reception. The results of the University of Hong Kong’s poll conducted on the same day as the Policy Address delivery show that it received a score of 62.4 points, the third highest since reunification.

Tax and IT measures boost development

As we all know, Hong Kong’s industries have long been too homogeneous and the momentum for upward social mobility has lost steam. It therefore urgently needs to find new economic growth drivers and invigorate the economy with a new mindset, which the business community and society as a whole have called for. The Policy Address takes a bold step and proposes a new direction for taxation to enhance Hong Kong’s global competitiveness with a two-tier profits tax system to help SMEs and start-ups, and introduces a 200% to 300% tax deduction for research and development (R&D) expenditure incurred to give innovation and technology (IT) development a great boost, which are the right remedies to the problems. Indeed, many economies would introduce targeted tax concessions to boost employment and stimulate the economy. For example, the US in recent months proposed cutting the corporate tax from 35% to 20%, while China’s successive years of reducing taxes and fees include increasing the income tax concessions and R&D expenditure tax deductions for small low-profit enterprises.

As IT is one of the key factors for future economic success, Hong Kong must quickly catch up in the IT race to drive other industries such as finance to further towards high value-added development. This will help Hong Kong actively participate in building the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area into an international IT center, better capture the golden opportunities arising from the “Belt and Road” initiative, broaden the development opportunities for Hong Kong’s young people, as well as widely apply technological achievements to urban management, medical care and elderly care to improve people’s livelihood and promote overall social progress. The Policy Address has set a clear goal: by the end of the five-year term of the current government, the total R&D expenditure shall rise from 0.73% to 1.5% of GDP, or about HK$45 billion annually, and there are roadmaps for the eight areas of IT development. We can see the government’s commitment and careful consideration to develop IT. For example, for “pool together technology talent” alone, the Policy Address has no less than six or seven schemes to achieve this goal, including the HK$500 million “Technology Talent Scheme” for training, the HK$3 billion research fund to provide studentships for students admitted to research postgraduate programmes, and the “Postdoctoral Hub” scheme to fund enterprises to employ postdoctoral professionals to engage in R&D and product development.

Livelihood measures bold and resourceful

The Policy Address is also very proactive in improving people’s livelihood as it has targeted support schemes to address the housing problems of both middle-class and grassroots families. Some are part of the Chief Executive’s election manifesto, such as the “Starter Homes” scheme, while others are beyond the election manifesto, including the Community Housing Movement, described by some foreign media as “conscionable subdivided flats” and exploring the conversion of industrial buildings into transitional housing. Besides housing matters, there are some noteworthy new measures in other policy areas as well, such as considering allowing subsidized elderly homes to import labor and introducing an inter-departmental “medical-social collaboration” model to cope with an ageing population; providing more assistance for patients with uncommon diseases; using government dividends received from the MTR Corporation to relieve the fare burden of long-distance commuters; and attaching great importance to youth work, with the Youth Development Commission chaired by the Chief Secretary for Administration to address young people’s concerns about education, career pursuit and home ownership, and encourage their participation in politics as well as public policy discussion and debate. All these show that the new government is very determined and has exhaustively considered the needs of people of different social strata and groups, and it has both boldness and resourcefulness to roll out roadmaps and take action, which should bring hope for society in general.

Building a harmonious and caring society together

Undeniably, a clear direction needs the support of a harmonious society, because many other issues have to be discussed with the people. For example, for Hong Kong to capture the golden opportunities arising from the Greater Bay Area, it is crucial to ensure the smooth flow of people and goods in the region, and the future “co-location arrangement” of the express rail needs public support and the LegCo’s approval in order to take place. Similarly, to solve the housing problems at the source, adequate land supply is a must, so the Task Force on Land Supply must achieve consensus in society after deliberation to ensure there is land for the long-term housing schemes.

The Chief Executive has made a lot of efforts to create a more open, harmonious and caring society, including bringing people of different parties and political views into the government and advisory committees, and even starting a self-recommendation scheme, as well as reopening the East Wing Forecourt of the Central Government Offices by the end of the year, and admitting online media to government press conferences. The public can also see that the social atmosphere has significantly improved during the first hundred days of the Chief Executive’s term of office. Hopefully, people of different opinions will respond positively in the interests of society as a whole so that the Policy Address’s blueprint and vision can be realized, with everyone working together to build a harmonious and prosperous society where people can live and work in peace and happiness.

This is a free translation. For the exact meaning of the article, please refer to the Chinese version.

This is a free translation. For the exact meaning of the article, please refer to the Chinese version.