Beijing: Macau residents enjoy extensive lawful rights, freedoms
The Office of the Commissioner of the Chinese Foreign Ministry in the Macau Special Administrative Region (SAR) said Friday that residents in Macau enjoy extensive rights and freedoms guaranteed under the Chinese Constitution and the Basic Law of the Macau SAR.
Since Macau’s return to the motherland over 20 years ago, the SAR has enjoyed the “fastest economic growth and the biggest improvement of people’s livelihood in history, making historic achievements and undergoing historic changes in economic and social development,” a spokesperson for the office said, while commenting on the so-called concluding observations by the UN Human Rights Committee on the implementation of the relevant provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in Macau.
The practice of all rights must be in accordance with the law and no freedom of the press or freedom of assembly in the world is above the law. No right or freedom can break the bottom line of national security, the spokesperson stressed.
Noting that the system of democracy in the Macau SAR is in line with the “One country, two systems” principle and the constitutional status of Macau, the spokesperson said it is conducive to safeguarding the democratic rights of Macau residents and maintaining the prosperity and stability of Macau.
The spokesperson said the central government will continue supporting the Macau SAR government in continuously improving its guarantee of human rights based on the Basic Law and other relevant local laws.
Also, a spokesperson for the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office of China’s State Council has expressed “firm opposition to and strong dissatisfaction” with the concluding observations made by the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Committee concerning the compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in Hong Kong and Macau.
The spokesperson said in a statement that many comments are biased and not based on facts.
According to the spokesperson, the government of the Macau SAR is “fulfilling its legitimate constitutional obligations when it protects the national flag, the national emblem, the national anthem and other national symbols and representations, organizes elections in accordance with the law, and defends constitutional order in the region,” the spokesperson said, adding that no impairment of human rights occurred.
The spokesperson expressed the hope that reports of the UN Human Rights Committee in the future would contain “more facts and less prejudice and falsehoods that should have not existed in the first place.” MDT/Xinhua
