-Caveat Lector-
from:
http://www.aci.net/kalliste/
<A HREF="http://www.aci.net/kalliste/">The Home Page of J. Orlin Grabbe</A>
-----
Macau Patties
Macau Welcomes Handover to China
Portuguese won't be missed.
MACAU, the first and last European enclave in China, is to be handed back to
Beijing tomorrow night after 450 years under Portuguese rule.
As with Hong Kong two years ago, the handover has been preceded by a
relentless propaganda campaign on the Communist mainland. But in Macau, a
handsome yet sleazy tropical city of 430,000 people, the overwhelmingly
Chinese population expressed little emotion yesterday beyond quiet
satisfaction at saying farewell to their colonial masters. In the main
streets, there are as many Christmas and New Year decorations as handover
posters or flags.
In the tense years before Hong Kong's handover to Beijing, many asked why
Britain could not be more like Portugal, whose Chinese territory was drifting
home to the motherland with such pragmatic calm. Yet, at this late stage,
Lisbon's languid approach is not looking as successful as some hoped. Despite
the pastel-coloured palaces and baroque churches, wine bars and
coffee-houses, Portugal's influence in Macau is dying.
Young Portuguese in the Bolo de Arroz, a favourite Macau coffee shop, doubted
that their Chinese neighbours would miss them. "The situation here is totally
different from Hong Kong," said Henrique Galvao, a young vet whose parents
have worked for the Macau government for 10 years.
He said: "We have two different worlds here, the Chinese and the Portuguese,
and they only mix when they have to, say at work. Maybe five per cent of the
population speaks Portuguese. We didn't try to sell our culture."
Across the city, at the tangerine-coloured palace that will house the new
Portuguese consulate-general, a Chinese student, Connie Lei, was picking up a
Portuguese passport, weaving her way past signs and state emblems covered
with dustsheets.
Lisbon has granted passports to a quarter of the Macau population, as well as
securing jobs for life for the 4,000 "Macanese", or Eurasians, who
traditionally filled the lower and middle ranks of the civil service. Miss
Lei said: "I don't feel Portuguese. This passport is simply more convenient."
She was looking forward to seeing Portugal's flag lowered outside Government
House tomorrow afternoon.
Macau returns to China a far less liberal city than Hong Kong, its single
pro-democracy legislator drowned out by the voices of pro-Beijing lobbyists
and business groups. Macau's new judges and government leaders will be
painfully inexperienced, thanks to Portugal's failure to appoint local
Chinese to senior posts until the last minute.
Macau, which returns under the "one country, two systems" principle, will in
theory enjoy a European-style legal code, banning capital punishment and
offering other guarantees of human rights. But Portuguese law has never
greatly worried China's security services, which have not hesitated to snatch
suspects from the enclave and bundle them over the border for trial.
Lisbon made one major stand this year, over China's unilateral decision to
station People's Liberation Army troops in Macau. Portugal removed its last
troops in 1975, saying they had "no viable mission".
But Macau's Chinese citizens - who make up 96 per cent of the population -
will welcome the PLA garrison. Many believe that only fear of the Communists
will end a turf war raging since 1995 as triad gangs fight for control of the
illegal gambling, loan-sharking and prostitution that swirl around Macau's
casinos. The casinos, run by a monopoly syndicate since 1961, provide more
than half the government's revenues.
Tight security will surround handover participants and guests, who will range
from the Chinese and Portuguese presidents to Xanana Gusmao, the [?], and
Chris Patten, the European commissioner and former Hong Kong governor. Both
Mr Gusmao and Mr Patten were invited by Lisbon alone, to conspicuous silence
from the mainland.
Just across the land border with the mainland, 10,000 border guards have been
posted to ensure that triad members from south China do not sneak into Macau
and disrupt the big day.
Luck, and politics, have dictated Macau's fortunes since the Portuguese were
first ceded a lease in 1557 - in return for fighting pirates, say the
Portuguese; in exchange for bribes, says China's propaganda machine. At
present the economy is in a four-year slump, further souring local Chinese
sentiment towards Portugal.
To many of Macau's residents, things can only improve once they are ruled by
fellow Chinese. Already Portuguese like Henrique Galvao are finding jobs hard
to find, as positive discrimination favours local Chinese. He said: "There
are so many things we could have done better. The Portuguese closed their
eyes for four centuries, and only opened them for the last 10 or 15 years.
That's the problem."
The London Telegraph, December 18, 1999
The Big Mo
Today Macau, Tomorrow Taiwan
Next, we seize all the pizza recipes, stolen by that thief Marco Polo.
BEIJING, Dec 17, 1999 (Reuters) China, flushed with pride and nationalistic
sentiment, began the countdown on Friday to regaining control of Macau, an
event expected to be followed by intensified pressure on stubborn Taiwan to
return to the fold.
President Jiang Zemin will fly to Macau - Europe's last colonial outpost -
for the handover ceremony at midnight on Sunday which ends 442 years of
Portuguese rule.
About 30,000 people, carefully screened to ensure political correctness, are
expected to sing and dance in Beijing's Tiananmen Square - the political
heart of China - on Sunday evening straddling the handover.
The return of the tiny gambling haven to China will leave only Taiwan still
eluding what Beijing's considers its "sacred mission" to reunite the country.
"Macau's handover is another important step towards the country's
reunification," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue told a news
conference on Thursday.
"Hong Kong has been handed over to China and Macau will be next soon. This
serves as a significant step towards solving the Taiwan problem," she said.
TAIWAN SAYS NO TO "ONE COUNTRY, TWO SYSTEMS"
Beijing regards Taiwan as a breakaway province and has wooed the island to
reunify under the "one country, two systems" formula, under which Hong Kong
returned to Chinese rule in 1997 and, from Sunday, Macau.
Taiwan has rejected the overture, saying reunification would be possible only
if China embraced Western-style democracy.
Macau will be a further test of the "one country, two systems" formula, under
which Beijing promised to let both territories keep their capitalist ways
under the umbrella of communist China.
Although there have been frequent expressions of concern in Hong Kong over
what has been seen as Beijing's interference, the former British colony is
widely seen as having maintained its way of life so far.
Both China and Portugal have gone out of their way to stress the goodwill
surrounding the handover of Macau, unlike Britain's strained withdrawal from
Hong Kong.
ROLE MODEL FOR THE WORLD?
Zhang touted the "one country, two systems" concept as a role model for
international disputes.
"The one-country-two-systems concept is a role model for other countries to
settle conflicts and is significant in solving certain problems in
international relations," she said.
In Beijing, there will be a fireworks display and lion and dragon dances in
Tiananmen Square, the center of student-led demonstrations for democracy
crushed by the army in 1989.
A giant television screen, set up in the square near an electronic clock
counting the number of days to Macau's return, will carry a live broadcast of
the celebrations in Macau.
"It's a joyous occasion," said Wen Sheng, a 30-year-old accountant.
"The bigger our nation's territory, the better. The more prosperous our
nation, the better," he said.
Beijing shops are selling Macau flags and commemorative coins, watches, cards
and pens to mark the handover.
About 10 parks in the Chinese capital will throw open their doors to visitors
on Monday - declared a national holiday to celebrate the return of Macau -
free of charge.
There will also be celebrations in the northern port city of Tianjin, the
financial hub of Shanghai, the southern province of Guangdong and the
southwestern city of Chongqing.
But festivities planned in China pale in comparison with celebrations marking
the handover of Hong Kong.
Officials have refused to say how much the Macau handover celebrations are
expected to cost.
Many ordinary Chinese complained about the billions of yuan spent on lavish
celebrations held to mark the 50th anniversary of the founding of the
People's Republic of China on October 1.
Millions are out of work due to painful reforms of money-losing state-owned
enterprises. The rising cost of medical care, housing and education has added
to the dissatisfaction.
China Today, December 17, 1999
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Aloha, He'Ping,
Om, Shalom, Salaam.
Em Hotep, Peace Be,
All My Relations.
Omnia Bona Bonis,
Adieu, Adios, Aloha.
Amen.
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