Hong Kong will launch a public consultation this quarter on its first five-year blueprint in tandem with China’s, Chief Executive John Lee has said, earlier than previously announced. Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee meets the press on April 8, 2025. File photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.

Speaking at his weekly press conference on Tuesday morning, Lee said, “The government is working hard and aiming to release the public consultation documents for the five-year plan within this quarter.” Lee announced in February, ahead of the Two Sessions in Beijing, that Hong Kong would launch its first blueprint alongside China’s 15th Five-Year Plan. The following month, he said public consultations for the city’s five-year plan would be conducted in the fourth quarter of this year. The chief executive also said on Tuesday that the inaugural plan would be “closely related to livelihood issues,” encompassing areas such as economic development, property, housing and education.

“The five-year plan will create a synergising force in society… and provide more certainty for businesses to pursue development,” he said in Cantonese. Since the 1950s, five-year plans in China have set the stage for the country’s social and economic development initiatives outlined by the Chinese Communist Party. Hong Kong in March 2025.

Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP. The government is formulating “thematic studies on various areas” and drafting public consultation documents, Lee said. Authorities will then consult those studies and public views before publishing an official five-year plan by the end of the year.

The Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau’s website has already set up a dedicated page on the city’s “proactive alignment” with China’s five-year plan. Lee added that the plan would ensure Hong Kong can integrate into the national blueprint and contribute to the success of One Country, Two Systems. The government has already established a “coordination mechanism” with the Legislative Council to take forward “studies and thematic research,” he said.