Severo Portela
Despite its origin being disputed…the well-known and eternal Taoist saying about giving fish, or teaching how to fish in order to satisfy or kill the hunger, has unlimited potential, so much so that it can be adapted to many a situation. As everybody knows for a fact and otherwise, China has been giving the SAR of Macau plenty of fish, schools of fish, indeed, if we chose this metaphor to refer to the now declining number of visitors, or number of rolling chips, if we prefer gambling tokens as a metaphor for Mainland tourists betting at the Macau casinos. It is now ancient history that China provoked the dwindling of the VIP market to a more sober 50/50… the GGR happened to dwindle accordingly.
At the same time, Beijing warned Macau to diversify its way of life, or else; and supported the role of Macau as a bridge to the Portuguese-speaking countries as the true path, together with regional integration, to succeed in restoring its DNA. Apparently it was not enough to shake the affluent gambling enclave into decisive action.
However this time not even the goodwill of the Golden Week jump in the casino chiffre d´affaires – a boost before scandal? – as a warm-up to the Fifth Ministerial Conference of the Forum for the Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries led to a laissez-faire response in the Macau executive. Whether the Li Keqiang package to boost and advance cooperation has 19 or 18 measures – the media seems to be divided on the exact number – the fact that is the importance of the role Macau is expected to perform is such that Chief Executive and Finance Secretary Lionel Leong left immediately to Nanchang, Jiangsu, to attend a Pan River Delta Regional Cooperation Conference. A coincidence, indeed, but one that illustrates the salience of the call Prime-minister Li Keqiang gave to MSAR – and the level of understanding with his counter-part António Costa, between China and Portugal. Macau can no longer return to an appearance of efficiency or a desire not to be ignored.
One by one, the 18-19 measures and the projects joining Portugal and China in Macau, as well as the understanding between Lisbon and Beijing on how to advance the bilateral-cooperation, deemed as a long friendship, send directly into irrelevance the old days of cooperation and business antics and players. The bilateral cooperation is now to a level that rejects any sort of ambush from any Macau fellas’ old style lobbying.
From now on, as Macau can assume the role of the clearing house for RMB financial transactions between China and Portuguese-speaking countries, handles the Cooperation Fund, adds the Three Centers, plus an Innovation Center, it is not the game that changed. It is the board and some of the old pieces.
Finally, we do have to say something about the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature. The so-called Swedish Academy has a history of negligence and other petty things. The same academy that ignored Dylan Thomas now seems to have corrected its misjudgment and has given the prize to an iconic musician named Zimmerman, the lyricist that took the name of the poet Dylan. If the academy could go deeper, they went willingly and cited (Bob) Dylan for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition. Ah! If I had a hammer!
Bob Dylan starred in Sam Peckinpah movie “Pat Garret & Billy the Kid”. He was a knife-throwing goon named Alias. He had a memorable part. Garret (James Coburn) asks, “Who are you?”
Bob, Dylan, Zimmerman, and alias, Alias answers: “That is a good question”. What next to the Laureate, read hymns at Davos? And congrats to MDT that took Dylan as its motto.
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