DATE=10/19/1999 TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT TITLE=MACAU HANDOVER (L) NUMBER=2-257300 BYLINE=ROGER WILKISON DATELINE=MACAU CONTENT= CONTENT: VOICED AT: INTRO: China has assumed formal control of the tiny Portuguese enclave of Macau, the oldest and the last European outpost in East Asia. As Correspondent Roger Wilkison reports, Portugal-- which governed the territory for the past 442-years-- has now relinquished all of its former colonial empire, while China - for the first time in centuries - holds sway over all of the Chinese mainland. TEXT: After five rehearsals this week, everything went like clockwork. The Chinese flag was raised over Macau at the stroke of midnight, minutes after the Portuguese flag was lowered for the last time. Three members of the Chinese armed forces -the same honor guard that raised the Chinese flag over Hong Kong in a similar handover ceremony in 1997 - hoisted their country's red banner over Macau. Three Portuguese military cadets brought down the green-and- red flag that once flew over one of the world's most far-flung empires. Chinese President Jiang Zemin, savoring a moment of triumph, expressed his hope that the return of Hong Kong and Macau to Chinese rule would prod Taiwan into reuniting with the mainland. Speaking through an interpreter, Mr. Jiang stressed the benefits of the "one country, two systems" formula under which Hong Kong and Macao enjoy autonomy in their internal affairs and preserve their own laws and way of life. He urged Taiwan to return to the fold, too. /// INTERPRETER ACT /// The implementation of the concept of "one country, two systems" in Hong Kong and Macao has played and will continue to play an important role in our eventual settlement of the Taiwan question. The Chinese people are confident and capable of an early settlement of the Taiwan question and the complete reunification. /// END ACT /// But Taiwan is not eager to reunify with the mainland until all of China is a democracy. Beijing does not rule out the use of force in its efforts to bring Taiwan under its control. The Chinese leader had words of reassurance for Macau, promising to respect its autonomy and pledging that daily life in the territory will not change. Most of Macau's 430-thousand inhabitants - 95-percent of whom are ethnic Chinese - say they are happy to be under the Chinese umbrella. They believe the presence in the territory of a small garrison of Chinese troops will help bring rising gang violence under control. Those troops will arrive in Macau on Monday. Portuguese president Jorge Sampaio stressed Macau's role as a meeting place between Portuguese and Chinese cultures where human rights are guaranteed by law. /// INTERPRETER ACT /// It is within this universal citizenship of values and rights that Macau will endure as a meeting point between Europe and Asia. It will thus continue its centuries-old vocation as an intermediary, as a crossroads of people, civilizations and interests, and so strengthen its own identity. /// END ACT /// But despite Mr. Sampaio's hopes that Portugal's legacy will remain in the territory, Macau is rapidly becoming a Chinese city, with the influx of many new migrants from the mainland. Portuguese is spoken by only seven-percent of the population. And concerns about human rights that marred the Hong-Kong handover are less evident in Macau. Making the transfer of power more comfortable and less controversial than the one two-and-a-half-years ago. (SIGNED) NEB/RW/RAE 19-Dec-1999 15:16 PM EDT (19-Dec-1999 2016 UTC) NNNN Source: Voice of America .
