ROVING REPORT RR9930/B: MACAU: HANDOVER

(23 Jul 1999) Nat sot/english

The small Portuguese territory of Macau in the South China Sea is the oldest surviving European colony in Asia. At midnight on 20 December this year Portugal will surrender sovereignty of Macau to China, after four and a half centuries. Like Hong Kong after it returned to China, Macau will enjoy the benefits of "one country, two systems". The vast majority of Macau Chinese actively look forward to "returning to the motherland". Ethnic Chinese make up 95 percent of the population, but so far little effort has been made to groom them for senior positions in the government. Only seven out of fifty senior civil servants are local-born Chinese and China has already called for a greater effort to "localise" the civil service. The main business of Macau remains the provision of gambling and related activities for the citizens of Hong Kong and further afield. Gambling is illegal in China, but the country has already spelt out that for historical reasons Macau's gaming industry can carry on for another fifty years without change, despite the triad violence which it generates.

Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter:   / ap_archive  
Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​
Instagram:   / apnews  


You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...