Building public housing to ease social contradictions and grab talents to focus on future development, Lee Ka-chiu has drawn a blueprint for Hong Kong's governance

Source: Global Times

【Global Times Comprehensive Report】Hong Kong SAR Chief Executive John Lee Jiachao delivered his first "Policy Address" on the 19th, and housing, talents, education and anti-epidemic have become the focus of great attention in society.

Housing is a top priority

Since the handover, the various Chief Executives of Hong Kong have seen the key points of their policy in their annual Policy Addresses in terms of cover color, theme and word count. Among the past chief executives, Leung Chun-ying loves orange, Carrie Lam loves sky blue, and Lee Ka-chiu's first report uses green as the cover, representing harmony and hope.

On the 19th, Lee Ka-chiu gave a comprehensive account of his policy philosophy, vision and various measures. He mentioned that Hong Kong is facing major changes not seen in a century, including high inflation, rising interest rates, monetary tightening, trade disputes and geopolitical tensions, which have weakened the momentum of global economic growth and affected the speed of Hong Kong's economic recovery. However, he also said that Hong Kong has strong advantages and opportunities under the "one country, two systems" principle, which is very attractive to the convergence of Chinese and Western cultures.

Housing has been the focus of successive Chief Executives in their Policy Address. Li Jiachao said that solving the problem of "housing" is the top priority of the current government, "the goal is to let the citizens see hope on the issue of 'housing', go upstairs earlier, and have larger housing." To this end, the Policy Address proposes to build 30,000 simple public housing units, which will significantly increase the total number of public housing buildings in the next five years compared with the previous five-year period by about 50%. In terms of land supply, three parcels of land will be rolled out in batches from the next financial year, and the Tseung Kwan O area is expected to provide 50,000 housing units to be occupied as early as 2030.

Transport is closely related to housing, and the Policy Address recommended the construction of three major arterial roads and three strategic railways. Chen Yongjie, Vice Chairman of Centaline Real Estate Asia Pacific and President of the Residential Department, said that the report "cures the symptoms" and "cures the root causes" in parallel, and the "symptom treatment" reduces the spicy of the property market and relaxes the measures of buyers' stamp duty; The "root cause" approach is a series of land creation procedures and a number of large-scale infrastructure projects to stabilize Hong Kong's long-term housing supply. He said that the two plans are parallel, bringing positive information to the property market.

"Youth is the future of Hong Kong"

Hong Kong is one of the most competitive economies in the world and an important window for the mainland to connect with the international market. The Policy Address stated that "we must be more active and enterprising in grabbing enterprises and talents". Specifically, the HKSAR Government will set up departments such as the "Office for the Introduction of Key Enterprises" and the "Talent Service Window", and set up a "co-investment fund" to introduce and invest in enterprises settled in Hong Kong, while launching the "High-end Talent Pass Scheme" and enhancing a number of existing schemes.

Among them, the "High-end Talent Pass Scheme" has attracted much attention, and the two-year plan includes those who have achieved an annual salary of HK$2.5 million or above in the past year, as well as those who graduated from the world's top 100 universities and have accumulated 3 or more years of work experience in the past 5 years. These two categories of persons can be issued a two-year permit to develop in Hong Kong without a quota. At the same time, the annual quota of the "Quality Talent Admission Scheme" will be abolished for a period of two years; Relax the "Stay/Return Employment Arrangement for Non-local Graduates" and extend the period of stay from one to two years to facilitate their stay and work in Hong Kong.

In order to better retain talents, the Policy Address also deducts a part of the residential tax for qualified foreign talents who buy property in Hong Kong in the future. At the same time, the Policy Address also mentioned the provision of youth hostels that are cheaper than market rates.

Lee Ka-chiu mentioned that young people are the future of Hong Kong, "if young people prosper, Hong Kong will prosper". In order to nurture the young generation who love the country and Hong Kong and have an international perspective, the Policy Address proposes to promote national education in schools both inside and outside the classroom, and the measures implemented from this school year onwards include adding learning elements such as national history and national geography to the primary and junior secondary school curricula. In conjunction with the "Annual Calendar of National Education Activity Planning" released by the Education Bureau, a series of joint school activities "Caring for the Family and Country" was launched to commemorate the day of important national events. He also stressed that teachers shoulder the important task of nurturing students' correct values and national identity, and must have professional competence and uphold professional ethics. To this end, the Education Bureau will strengthen teacher management in various aspects such as recruitment, conduct and training, including the requirement for new permanent teachers recruited in public sector schools to pass the Basic Law test from this school year, and extending it to all schools under the Direct Subvented Scheme and kindergartens participating in the Kindergarten Education Programme from next school year. In the future, the government will increase the opportunities for teachers to visit the Mainland to experience the country's development first-hand.

Strengthen the management of civil servants

In this Policy Address, Lee Ka-chiu has a new approach to the management of the civil service team of the HKSAR Government. He proposed the establishment of hundreds of performance appraisals (KPIs), which will be further amended in the Legislative Council in the future. The Policy Address also proposed the establishment of an "Chief Executive's Commendation List" award scheme, whereby outstanding and exemplary teams or personnel will be publicly commended on a regular basis from next year, and civil servants with poor performance should be terminated in a timely manner if they do not improve after supervision and assistance. Lee also proposed to update the Civil Service Code, including having a sense of safeguarding national sovereignty, security and development interests, and fulfilling the principle of "patriots governing Hong Kong".

In addition, the topic of anti-epidemic has also been heavily discussed in the Policy Address, including five principles, namely "not lying flat, controlling the number of confirmed cases, ensuring the capacity of the medical system", "reducing weight illness and death", "protecting high-risk people, including the elderly, young and chronically ill patients", "identifying people with different risk levels with scientific and accurate methods, graded control", and "balancing epidemic risks and economic needs", and "gradually resuming cross-border exchanges". Lee stressed that "there is no turning back in the fight against the epidemic", and the HKSAR Government will optimize various measures step by step, including social distancing measures, as conditions permit. The first goal is to do "reverse isolation", that is, "pre-quarantine", in Hong Kong, so as to meet the mainland's "7+3" epidemic prevention standards and ensure that the epidemic will not flood the mainland.

Combining "long-term consideration" and "near-term worry"

After reading out a series of policy priorities, Lee once again stressed that Hong Kong, as an export-oriented economy, must "tell the story of Hong Kong well" to the world. On the 19th, a spokesman for the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in Hong Kong said that the "Policy Address" issued by Lee Ka-chiu is the first systematic policy platform issued by the new SAR government from chaos to governance to a new stage of governance and rejuvenation, supporting Hong Kong's better integration into the overall development of the country. A spokesman for the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council said that on the occasion of the victory of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, this Policy Address is a vivid reflection of the historic convergence of Hong Kong's new stage of development and the new journey of national development, indicating that Hong Kong will surely achieve greater and better development in forging ahead with the country.

Zhu Jiajian, a Hong Kong invited member of the National Association of Hong Kong and Macao Studies and executive director of the Hong Kong General Association of the China Association for the Promotion of Peaceful Reunification, said in an interview with a Global Times reporter on the 19th that the "Policy Address" has made medium- and long-term plans for Hong Kong's land and housing, talent training, infrastructure, innovation and technology development, medical services, etc., which is very far-sighted and portrays the blueprint and prospects of Hong Kong. He said that Lee Ka-chiu will set up and guide the "Steering Group for Integration into the Overall Development of the Country" and establish the "Hong Kong Investment Management Company Limited", which will play a positive role in Hong Kong's image in cooperation with the Mainland and abroad. The Chief Executive's Policy Unit will help enhance future governance and advocacy capacity, laying the foundation for future policy practice.

Deng Fei, a member of the Legislative Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and vice chairman of the Education Federation, told the Global Times reporter on the 19th that the "Policy Address" during the Tung Chee-hua period contained many long-term and macro plans, and Carrie Lam's plan paid more attention to the problems that needed to be solved urgently. "It can be seen from this Policy Address that there are both long-term plans and short-term issues that need to be addressed, including both 'long-term concerns' and 'near-term concerns', which is unexpected by many people." Deng Fei mentioned that there are two difficulties and challenges in the implementation of policies in the future: first, the ambitious Policy Address requires a large amount of public financial input and needs to be adjusted; Second, as China's window to internationalization, Hong Kong also has to deal with some current challenges in international relations. Deng Fei said that no matter how good policy planning is, it depends on efficient governance and civil service teams to implement it, and before elaborating on various public policies, the "Policy Address" first explains how to improve the governance level of the SAR government.

"Sing Tao Daily" said on the 19th that "Li Jiachao's first blow will comprehensively boost the economy", and the public has high hopes for the new "Policy Address", especially in terms of land and housing. Some commentators said that the 20th National Congress will add new impetus to Hong Kong's governance and rejuvenation, and bring huge development opportunities.