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
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