Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa | Portugal’s position on Macau unchanged since 1999

Portugal’s position on Macau has remained unchanged since 1999, according to Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, and “no change in the global, regional or another context” should undermine the footing on which the Special Administrative Region has operated for the past two decades.
Rebelo de Sousa made the comments at an event held at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the handover of Macau from the Portuguese Republic to the People’s Republic of China. The event was attended by China’s ambassador in Lisbon, Cai Run; the last governor of Macau, Vasco Rocha Vieira; as well as a former Portuguese head of state, António Ramalho Eanes.
First reported by Lusa News Agency, the Portuguese president called on all parties to comply with the principles governing the handover and stressed that his country’s position on the semi-autonomous territory has not changed in 20 years.
“For Portugal, Macau is a specific reality, the result of a unique and unrepeatable historical process, and the solution reached in 1999 is therefore unique and unrepeatable, and as such must be respected and valued under all circumstances,” he said, as cited by Lusa.
Rebelo de Sousa also highlighted the role of the Portuguese language in Macau.
“Without the economic, social and cultural component, without a natural emphasis on the underlining of the Portuguese language, the law runs the risk of being a dead letter, form without content, a more erasable reminiscence of the past, without present and future perspectives” he said, according to Lusa.
Rebelo de Sousa visited Macau in May this year, following a state visit to the mainland. While in the Macau SAR, the Portuguese president stressed how different Macau was from both China and Portugal, adding that this “mix of cultures, civilizations, religions, and people” was precisely the city’s greatest wealth. DB