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
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