CE: Xi's speech helps steer HK's development
Chief Executive John Lee on Sunday said he was encouraged by the fact that the central government values the SAR a great deal as shown in President Xi Jinping's speech to open the Communist Party Congress. Writing on social media, Lee said the One Country, Two Systems principle – along with Hong Kong and Macau – were mentioned numerous times in the speech, adding Xi's remarks on the implementation of the principle were spot on and would serve as a pillar of Hong Kong's development. The CE noted that the territory had in the past five years faced the hardest challenges since the handover, but it always had the support of the country, both during the social unrest in 2019 and the pandemic. Lee said as Hong Kong is turning a new page after the central government helped to restore order here, he will be proposing more measures for economic development and improving people's livelihoods in his maiden Policy Address on Wednesday. Tam Yiu-chung, the city's sole delegate to the National People's Congress Standing Committee, said society should unite in the spirit of the party congress and support the SAR government. The DAB, meanwhile, said Xi's speech should motivate Hong Kong to tackle its problems. "This shows that as long as we are heading in the right direction – and under the strong leadership of the Communist Party – many problems thought to be difficult can actually be solved," DAB lawmaker Gary Chan said. "It's the same in Hong Kong... The land and housing problem and the gap between the rich and poor are not unsolvable, as long as the SAR government puts in the work and Hong Kong people are united." Chan's fellow party member, Holden Chow, says Hong Kong will continue to play a role in the country's development thanks to its connections with the rest of the world.