Come the cycle of life. There is a sign in China: seven days of quarantine, up to five… The day will come to isolate only “suspects” – without proof of immunity at the time of travel.
It’s what makes the world go. The shift is not sanitary – it is political. Is well.
Macau reviews the outbreak of alarm; looking for signs of light. A land with a short horizon; blurred by geography, it suffocates when the border closes. Suffer inside the bubble.
At first it seems not. It is the illusion of security. Suddenly, nothing is safe today: the job, the people… the will itself. Fatigue takes over the spirit – life loses horizons. Everyone knows that today in Macau.
It has to open because there is no other remedy. It will be slow, insecure… and it won’t solve the crisis; nor does it recover the Chinese shine… Macau’s lethargy, then, cannot be cured with magic at the border. Macau has a lot to ride.
There is no drama. Indeed, Macau trusts China – and its own resilience. After all, it has resisted for a long time; and a lot of things. You’ve seen wars bigger than Ukraine’s, brutal conflicts – internal and internal… you know all kinds of crises. Macau always resists – and even surprises. Many centuries of it; in a political, ideological, military, economic earthquake…
Sometimes east – sometimes west. The long time allows for a smile ahead. But there is much more to it than that.
What Macau is – and can be – cannot be compared. It is unique and strategic for both modern Chinese culture; or for a Portugal of the future – in the Portuguese-speaking world.
The new paradigm is hard to digest: there is no miracle in the recipe; not a major blow. Tomorrow does not know how to reverse the steps towards a lower, less stimulating standard of living. The option is neither moral nor ideological. There is a cycle of recovery to follow: political, social, economic… and individual.
At all levels – in all languages. This is the process that counts. For those who are from Macau and stay; for those who want to return; or be seduced to arrive.
*Director General of PLATAFORMA
