EU supports local ‘democratic advancement’

Vincent Piket (2nd left) gestures

The European Union supports “democratic advancement” in Macau and Hong Kong, and wishes to see both special administrative regions achieve a universal suffrage model that would give citizens genuine choices to decide who will become the chief executive, said Vincent Piket, head of the European Union Office to Hong Kong and Macau.
The Dutch diplomat was speaking to reporters after a seminar held yesterday at the University of Macau to discuss future EU-China collaboration based on the regions’ diplomatic ties over the last four decades. Mr Piket told media that the Union was in no position to intervene with Chinese domestic sovereignty and respected the authorities’ political decisions. However, a democratic election would also be influential to the foreign business sector in Hong Kong, said the foreign official.
“As the EU, we always say we don’t interfere in the process but we’re stakeholders in it because of our history together [and] the tremendous economic exchanges [between our regions]. We have almost two thousand European companies based in Hong Kong. As a stakeholder, we say that we hope very much that universal suffrage will be introduced in Hong Kong soon, in line with the Basic Law, granting maximum participation and a genuine choice for Hong Kong citizens,” he said.
Asked if it would be possible for Macau to elect its leader via a similar format, the EU representative said it all hinged on the “legal point,” which referred to the terms laid down in the Basic Law.
“As the EU, we stand for a form of government that has a lot of accountability towards society, and that is efficient and governed by principles of democracy. So we would be very supportive of such a development,” he added.
Mr Piket described the relationship between China and the European union as “dynamic.” Regional security, foreign and environmental issues would be the major topics to explore in the China-EU summit scheduled to be held in Brussels next month.
Commenting on the challenges facing the local economy, the diplomat acknowledged that it needs to be diversified in order to rely less on the gaming industry. The office head said that the EU would be willing to contribute to the process by introducing technology and knowledge that the city currently lacks, which, together with improvement to the education sector, is their priority when it comes to Macau’s local government. “What needs to be done is to bring some more investment into Macau in areas other than just the gaming sector, to bring in other firms, to bring in technology and knowledge that Macau currently doesn’t have a sufficient supply of. That’s sort of the exchange we want to build up between European businesses and Macau in the coming years,” he said.
The diplomat also stressed that China and the EU are committed to concluding the ongoing negotiations for the EU China Investment Agreement, which would not only provide additional protection for mutual investment on both sides, but also better market assets for European investors into China, said Piket. The head of the European Union Office to Hong Kong and Macau was also pleased with the formation of the local special administrative region in 1999 under the principle of “one country two systems,” adding that it was “good for everybody.” Staff reporter