Scholar | Beijing’s ‘clear message’ to Macau

Sonny Lo

Beijing’s concern over national economic security has been a prominent factor that’s long been neglected in the discussions of Macau’s casino industry development, suggests scholar Sonny Lo.
The scholar believes that the continuous plunge in Macau’s gaming revenue is a phenomenon that could have been anticipated, as China is “deeply concerned about possible money flow from China to foreign countries through Macau casinos.”
Furthermore, he feels that Beijing sent “a very clear message” when the Ministry of Tourism set up a joint working committee with the MSAR government earlier this month to accelerate the city’s transformation into a world tourism and leisure center.
“Macau’s casino capitalism – using casinos to simulate economic growth – has entered a new stage in which Beijing’s political and economic role in the casino industry is becoming far more prominent than ever before,” Sonny Lo explained to the Times, on the sidelines of a recent lecture given at the Macau Ricci Institute.
The scholar, heading the Hong Kong Institute of Education’s Department of Social Sciences, elaborated to the audience about Macau’s economic situation and political discontent. “Beijing sees the city as excessively dependent on the casino economy, and as a potential menace to China’s economic national security,” he said, adding that local citizens’ gradual awakening towards civil society hasn’t, but may eventually, also add serious challenges to the local government.
In that regard he suggested, “the Macau government has to accelerate its concrete measures for economic diversification.”