'Rural development a vast opportunity for HK business'

The chairman of the Chinese General Chamber of Commerce, Jonathan Choi, says placing rural modernisation at the centre of national development offers immense opportunities for Hong Kong businesses. Priorities on revitalising rural areas are outlined in the country’s 15th Five-Year Plan for the 2026-2030 period, which maps out initiatives to accelerate rural modernisation, develop countryside leisure tourism, and provide incentives for rural entrepreneurship. In 2023, Choi began participating in poverty alleviation work in Malipo County in the southeastern part of Yunnan Province, where he invested in a modern tea factory to standardise local production. The tea products have since been presented as national gifts during state visits and showcased at the United Nations. Speaking on RTHK’s “Vision 15: Hong Kong's Chapter” programme, Choi, also a Standing Committee member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, stressed that Hong Kong merchants should seize the opportunity to expand or relocate their operations to rural areas on the mainland. “You can set up a tea factory, you can set up a coffee factory. You can set up many food factories. If you're in manufacturing, you can bring Hong Kong's light industry there. Because land over there is cheap, labour is cheap, and other resources are also quite cheap,” he said. “It’s really industrial relocation: they can be relocated from the Pearl River Delta to more remote places. So the urbanisation of rural areas benefits the local area, and for Hong Kong businesses, it is also a development opportunity.” Choi added that Hong Kong businesses can also play a vital role in helping mainland talent and products go global. Edited by Tony Sabine

2026-10-07 12:20:00