The 18th Plenary Session of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) is drawing near under growing attention from around the world. It will be a significant milestone marking the beginning of a new era in the history of the nation. The fourth generation of the CPC leadership core, headed by General Secretary Hu Jintao, has been steering the country on the course of scientific development with magnificent achievements in the past 10 years. The latest plenary session will give birth to a new leadership core, and draw up an all-round plan for the country's development in the next 10 years.

As an inseparable part of the country, Hong Kong will also benefit from the next wave of national development following the new CPC plenary session and march toward a better future.

One of the greatest achievements of the country under the leadership of the CPC headed by Hu is that China overtook Japan to become the second largest economy in the world last year, crowning 10 years of unmatched economic development and growing global influence. Needless to say, the next 10 years will be filled with all kinds of challenges, but the Chinese nation is confident the future will be bright.

Hong Kong has weathered 15 challenging years since the handover. The city fought through a series of natural, economic and political trials, including the SARS epidemic, the Asian financial turmoil and the ongoing global economic downturn. These were accompanied by political ambushes every step of the way, which only added difficulties to Hong Kong's development.

Fortunately, the central government has supported the SAR all these years and helped it overcome various difficulties and become stronger. Back in 1995, Fortune magazine predicted that Hong Kong, as the Western world knew it, would be dead after the handover in 1997; but it announced in 2007 in an article marking the 10th anniversary of the HKSAR that Hong Kong would never die. Time magazine went one step further in 2008 by coining the term Nylonkong, which combines the names of the three cities of New York, London and Hong Kong, and proclaimed: "Understand this network of cities - Nylonkong, we call it - and you understand our time." Hong Kong's ascendance to such global significance is a logical outcome of China's phenomenal rise as an economic powerhouse.

The 18th CPC plenary session will draw up an all-round development plan for the next 10 years, based on the experience gained in the past decade. The nation is expected to maintain relatively strong growth and become an even bigger economy with greater global influence during the coming decade. Hong Kong, whose well-being is closely tied to the nation's development, will no doubt continue to benefit from the growth of the national economy and advance toward an even brighter future.

Thanks to its unique advantage afforded by the "One Country, Two Systems" and "Hong Kong People Governing Hong Kong" principles, the city has played an important and irreplaceable role in the mainland's reform and opening drive so far, and will continue to facilitate the rise of the national economy and benefit from it.

The past 15 years saw all kinds of exchanges and interactions between Hong Kong and the mainland expand and deepen. The mutually complementary and beneficial relationship between the two regions is expected to flourish in the years to come. It is an irreversible trend of the times.

The author is a Hong Kong member of the CPPCC and chairman of the Hong Kong Youth Exchange Promotion United Association.

(HK Edition 10/25/2012 page3)