DATE=12/20/1999 TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT TITLE=MACAU / ARMY (L ONLY) NUMBER=2-257321 BYLINE=ROGER WILKISON DATELINE=MACAU CONTENT= VOICED AT: INTRO: About 500 troops of China's People's Liberation Army rolled into Macau Monday, hours after Portugal ceded formal control of the tiny enclave to Beijing. VOA correspondent Roger Wilkison reports the troops were warmly greeted by a city that hopes their mere presence will serve as a deterrent to rising crime. SOUND: CROWD GREETING TROOPS, CHOPPER OVERHEAD, DRUMS BEATING ESTABLISH AND FADE UNDER - HOLD UNDER TEXT: As a helicopter whirled overhead and drummers banged out a welcoming beat, the soldiers arrived. They came in a convoy of trucks and armored personnel carriers, crack troops toting machine guns, crossing the border between China and Macau at noon on the dot. But despite their weapons, their smart look and their military posture, there was nothing menacing about the soldiers. They actually waved at the thousands of people who thronged the streets to welcome them. And the crowd -holding little red Chinese and green Macau flags- waved back. This was a new-look Chinese army. In some of the trucks, riding alongside the soldiers, photographers and cameramen took pictures and video footage of the crowd to show the folks back home in China how they were greeted by their brethren in the country's newest territory. SOUND: FADE OUT As the convoy made its way down the island's main north-south artery, the soldiers were showered with flowers. Many members of the territory's huge ethnic Chinese majority had made it clear they welcome the presence of the troops at a time when Macau has experienced rising gang violence that has left 37 people dead so far this year. Although their presence in Macau is mainly a symbolic assertion of Chinese sovreignty in what was, until a day ago, a Portuguese territory, the troops could be called on to maintain order if the local police are unable to do so. Many of Macau's inhabitants think that the small garrison - which China says will not exceed 300 troops at a given time-will dissuade the territory's gangsters from continuing their turf wars. At a special welcoming ceremony near the city's waterfront, a parade was held to celebrate the army's arrival. Banners in Chinese characters proclaiming Macau's bright future were everywhere. People dressed in typical costumes from virtually every part of China, including local citizens in Portuguese peasant garb, danced or sauntered past a reviewing stand where Macau's new chief executive sat along with other community leaders. Joining the dancers were gymnasts, motorcycle riders, and baton twirlers. Brightly decorated floats -all of them carrying patriotic messages of some sort or another-followed, including one bearing a Chinese flag with a beaming Chinese President Jiang Zemin dressed in a Mao suit-the father figure of the handover that everybody was celebrating. Before presiding over the lowering of his country's flag Sunday night, Portuguese President Jorge Sampaio thanked China for agreeing to delay the arrival of its troops in Macau until after the handover. Tensions between China and Portugal had arisen earlier in the year when Beijing signaled its intention to send a small contingent of troops in before the handover. (signed) 20-Dec-1999 06:33 AM EDT (20-Dec-1999 1133 UTC) NNNN Source: Voice of America .
