HK Youth Must Become 'Bay Area Youngsters': BPA

The Business and Professionals Alliance (BPA) said on Tuesday that it hopes young people Hong Kong will start to see themselves as "Bay Area Youngsters" as they tap into the opportunities on offer in a re-branded Pearl River Delta.

The party said it would ask Beijing to make it easier for young Hong Kong people to work, study, or start their own businesses in Guangdong cities in the Greater Bay Area.

It said it would push its "Bay Area Youngsters" concept at upcoming meetings of the National People's Congress (NPC) and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).

The party's Thomas Cheung, an NPC deputy, said young people in Hong Kong should make contributions to the development strategy for the region.

"The opportunity in the Greater Bay Area should be enormous, there's no precedent, and to Hong Kong it is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for most people here," Cheung said.

"What we should do right now is change our mindset to help out the development in the Greater Bay Area. I really hope that everyone can do it together, we share and then we contribute and then we enjoy the achievement, the accomplishment together."

Meanwhile, the BPA said it hadn't yet decided whether to support a proposed change to the mainland's constitution which will allow the president to serve more than two terms.

Lo Wai-kwok, who's a CPPCC member, said they would only vote for the amendment if they believed it was for the good of the country and the SAR.

"The BPA's position is very clear. We support whatever is good for stability and sustainable development of the country and of Hong Kong," Lo said.

The change to the constitution, which is all but guaranteed to be approved, will allow President Xi Jinping to stay on indefinitely after his second term expires in 2023.