Portuguese president to visit Macau next week

Macau will form a stop on the Portuguese president’s state visit to China. President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa will spend two days in Macau and have at least one meeting with Chief Executive Chui Sai On.

The president plans to stay in Macau between April 29 and 30. The Chief Executive will host a welcome banquet for the president and his delegation.

President Rebelo de Sousa will be in China from April 26 to May 2, with his first two days to be spent attending the 2nd Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing. Last December, during President Xi Jinping’s state visit to Portugal, his Portuguese counterpart decided to take part in the Belt and Road Forum.

The Forum, hosted by China, will count the participation of the heads of 17 countries, as well as the president of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the secretary-general of the United Nations.

President Rebelo de Sousa is viewed favorably in China, having often used words like ‘cooperation’, ‘exchange’ and ‘friendly’.

In his interview with the Chinese media outlet China Global Television Network, the Portuguese President said, “Macau was never considered to be a Portuguese colony,” noting that the previous 500 years of Sino-Portuguese relations constituted “cultural, financial, economic, social, and political exchanges.”

Given his previous comments, President Rebelo de Sousa’s upcoming visit to China will likely see the strengthening of the existing “friendly ties.” Staff reporter