Hong Kong’s entire 90-seat legislature is to journey to the country’s capital, Beijing, in July for a study visit.
The week-long trip has been hailed by eager lawmakers as being of “great historical significance”.
It will mark the first such collective trip by all the lawmakers of the special administrative region since the city’s return to the motherland in 1997.
The Legislative Council’s House Committee will meet on Friday for further discussions on the details of the upcoming visit.
From July 19 to 25, they will follow a “considerably rich and compact” itinerary, gaining direct insight into the latest national developments and learning ways to better align Hong Kong’s growth with national development priorities, LegCo President Starry Lee Wai-king said Thursday on social media.
The trip includes visits to the Hong Kong and Macao Work Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and other “key authorities”, Lee noted, as well as several thematic seminars and site tours for a first-hand look at industries that exemplify the latest advances driven by what is now known as “new quality productive forces”, central to the country’s vision for innovation-led, high-efficiency economic growth.
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The seminar lineup will touch on the country’s guiding principles for state governance, the formulation of the national five-year plans, the country’s geopolitical strategy, national security, and the nationwide “Digital China” initiative.
Meanwhile, strategic industrial frontiers set to be spotlighted during the trip include aerospace, information technology, green transition, new-energy transport, and artificial intelligence.
LegCo members — who sit both in the SAR’s lawmaking body and in its broader governing team — will also take the opportunity to learn more about the National People’s Congress legislative process and supervisory work, along with the party authorities’ history and grass-roots governance experience, Lee wrote.
Lee expressed confidence that this visit will “certainly” help LegCo assist the SAR’s administration in drawing up Hong Kong’s first local five-year plan.
The plan, slated for release within this year, is part of the city’s broader effort to better dovetail with the nation’s 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30) and to continue deepening the integration of its local growth into — and service of — the country’s broader development.
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Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu earlier set up a collaborative mechanism to facilitate joint research, discussion and feedback between his administrative and the city’s legislative branches in a bid to speed the plan’s completion.
“All legislators are keen to gain a firmer grasp of the central government’s governance principles and development strategies,” Starry Lee said.
Contact the writer at wanqing@chinadailyhk.com