Scholars ask if Beijing will adopt Madeira-style rule for SARs

Cruise ships berthed in the port of Funchal, Madeira

A top Beijing official’s research mission to the Portuguese island of Madeira last month has prompted scholars to question whether the central government intends to learn from the Portuguese Autonomous Regions (PARs) when revising the constitutions of Hong Kong and Macau.
Li Fei met the president of Madeira’s autonomous government, as well as the head of its Legislative Assembly, as part of a six-member mainland delegation. According to the South China Morning Post, the senior official was on a mission to study the PARs’ relationship with the central government in Lisbon.
In his post as chairman of the Hong Kong Basic Law Committee, Li holds considerable sway in determining the future of Hong Kong’s constitution.
Jason Buhi, a lecturer at Peking University’s School of Transnational Law in Shenzhen, wrote in the SCMP that Portugal’s administrative regions – Madeira and the Azores – could inspire Beijing when deciding the constitutional future of the SARs.
Wang Yu, an associate professor at the One Country Two Systems Research Centre at the Macau Polytechnic Institute, said that Li’s visit signals Beijing’s possible intentions to “use [Portugal’s] system as a reference for ‘one country, two systems’.”
It is uncertain to what degree Beijing could replicate Madeira’s model of governance in Hong Kong or Macau. However, an examination of the constitutional differences between the PARs and SARs may shed more light on a possible constitutional revision.
“In terms of external policy, Macau and Hong Kong – like Madeira – don’t have specific powers,” said Tranquada Gomes, President of Madeira’s Legislative Assembly. Speaking to SCMP, he added that Madeira enjoys universal suffrage but “doesn’t have as much autonomy as Macau or Hong Kong.”
Macau and Hong Kong enjoy far greater economic autonomy than the PARs in terms of legislative power. The Chinese territories can set independent taxes and customs, as well as fiscal and monetary policies, whereas Madeira and the Azores remain subject to Lisbon’s monetary and fiscal laws.
“It is easy to assume why Beijing would be interested in the Portuguese model, but no international practice is suitable to be copied [exactly] per se,” writes Jason Buhi, before adding that he personally “remains confident [that] Hong Kong and Macau will continue to enjoy a high degree of autonomy in their next constitutional iterations.”  Staff reporter