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[
back ] BEIJING, Dec 17, 1999 -- (Reuters ) China, flushed with pride and nationalistic sentiment, began the countdown on Friday to regaining control of Macau, an event expected to be followed by intensified pressure on stubborn Taiwan to return to the fold. President Jiang Zemin will fly to Macau - Europe's last colonial outpost - for the handover ceremony at midnight on Sunday which ends 442 years of Portuguese rule. About 30,000 people, carefully screened to ensure political correctness, are expected to sing and dance in Beijing's Tiananmen Square - the political heart of China - on Sunday evening straddling the handover. The return of the tiny gambling haven to China will leave only Taiwan still eluding what Beijing's considers its "sacred mission" to reunite the country. "Macau's handover is another important step towards the country's reunification," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue told a news conference on Thursday. "Hong Kong has been handed over to China and Macau will be next soon. This serves as a significant step towards solving the Taiwan problem," she said. TAIWAN SAYS NO TO "ONE COUNTRY, TWO SYSTEMS" Beijing regards Taiwan as a breakaway province and has wooed the island to reunify under the "one country, two systems" formula, under which Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule in 1997 and, from Sunday, Macau. Taiwan has rejected the overture, saying reunification would be possible only if China embraced Western-style democracy. Macau will be a further test of the "one country, two systems" formula, under which Beijing promised to let both territories keep their capitalist ways under the umbrella of communist China. Although there have been frequent expressions of concern in Hong Kong over what has been seen as Beijing's interference, the former British colony is widely seen as having maintained its way of life so far. Both China and Portugal have gone out of their way to stress the goodwill surrounding the handover of Macau, unlike Britain's strained withdrawal from Hong Kong. ROLE MODEL FOR THE WORLD? Zhang touted the "one country, two systems" concept as a role model for international disputes. "The one-country-two-systems concept is a role model for other countries to settle conflicts and is significant in solving certain problems in international relations," she said. In Beijing, there will be a fireworks display and lion and dragon dances in Tiananmen Square, the center of student-led demonstrations for democracy crushed by the army in 1989. A giant television screen, set up in the square near an electronic clock counting the number of days to Macau's return, will carry a live broadcast of the celebrations in Macau. It's a joyous occasion," said Wen Sheng, a 30-year-old accountant. "The bigger our nation's territory, the better. The more prosperous our nation, the better," he said. Beijing shops are selling Macau flags and commemorative coins, watches, cards and pens to mark the handover. About 10 parks in the Chinese capital will throw open their doors to visitors on Monday - declared a national holiday to celebrate the return of Macau - free of charge. There
will also be celebrations in the northern port city of Tianjin, the financial
hub of Shanghai, the southern province of Guangdong and the southwestern city
of Chongqing. But festivities planned in China pale in comparison with celebrations
marking the handover of Hong Kong. Officials have refused to say how much the
Macau handover celebrations are expected to cost. Many ordinary Chinese complained
about the billions of yuan spent on lavish celebrations held to mark the 50th
anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1. Millions
are out of work due to painful reforms of money-losing state-owned enterprises.
The rising cost of medical care, housing and education has added to the dissatisfaction. |
