The first visit of the Chief Executive to Portugal in his mandate ended with several confirmations of the visit of the country’s leaders to the Macao SAR and promises of support for the Portuguese community in the territory. Ho Iat Seng also sought to allay concerns raised about the erosion of freedoms and rights of residents
There were many politically relevant meetings held by Ho Iat Seng during his visit to Lisbon, between the 18th and 22nd of April.
The head of government’s tour included sessions with the Portuguese President, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, the Prime Minister, António Costa, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, João Gomes Cravinho, and the Mayor of Lisbon, Carlos Moedas.
After a meeting with the Chief Executive, the Minister of Foreign Affairs even pointed out that António Costa should visit Macau later this year for the long-delayed sixth ministerial meeting of Forum Macau.
Initially scheduled for 2019, the sixth ministerial conference of Forum Macau was postponed to June 2020, due to elections for the Legislative Assembly of Macau, but did not take place due to the pandemic.
A source from Forum Macau told Plataforma that the exact date of the ministerial conference, which is scheduled for the second half of the year, is still being agreed with the authorities of the different Portuguese-speaking countries.
At the same time, João Gomes Cravinho was invited by Ho Iat Seng to jointly chair the 7th meeting of the Macau-Portugal Joint Commission. This commission was set up under the Framework Cooperation Agreement between the Special Administrative Region of Macau and Portugal in 2001.
The last meeting of the Macau-Portugal Joint Commission took place in 2019, with a meeting between the then Chief Executive, Chui Sai On and the then Portuguese Minister of Foreign Affairs, Augusto Santos Silva, and resulted in three new cooperation agreements in the areas higher education, tourism and justice.
For this year’s Macau-Portugal Joint Commission meeting, one of the issues under discussion is the approval by the Portuguese authorities of an extradition agreement between Portugal and the Macao SAR.
An agreement for the “Delivery of Fleeing Offenders” was approved in May 2019 by the then Minister of Justice, Francisca Van Dunem, and the Secretary for Administration and Justice, Sónia Chan. The agreement was officially published in the Official Gazette in the Macao SAR, but has not yet been ratified in Portugal.
Days before his meeting with Ho, the President of the Republic mentioned that he would address issues of law agreed in 1999 and the teaching of Portuguese.
Before his departure for Portugal, the leader of the Macao SAR Government had assured that the agreement that resulted in the transfer of administration of the territory to China, in 1999, was being “scrupulously fulfilled”.
Ho defended that “there has not been any change” with regard to the Sino-Portuguese Joint Declaration of April 13, 1987, which provides for the maintenance of rights, freedoms and guarantees for a period of 50 years.
Gomes Cravinho, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Portugal
“I cannot respond to all comments made by all individuals. They are proof that Macau is a society endowed with freedoms,” he added.
In the same session with journalists, Ho Iat Seng, was confident that the Basic Law, which allows the territory’s autonomy from China, will remain after the transition period negotiated with Portugal, in 2049.
“A system that is good, we don’t need to change it, so we know that after 50 years the system will remain”, he said.
Ho Iat Seng also sought to allay concerns regarding a revision of the National Security Law in Macau, which aims to punish crimes committed abroad, covering not only residents, migrant workers and tourists in the city, but also foreigners.
The government leader mentioned that there have been no charges under the current state security law, passed in 2009, which makes acts of treason, secession, editing and subversion crimes.
The importance of the Portuguese community in the territory was also highlighted by Ho, who mentioned “loyalty and commitment” as attributes of the Macau community.
“The Portuguese community, as an important part of the local population. Despite the difficult times that Macau has incurred after the pandemic, it has played its role with total loyalty and commitment in the exercise of the most varied functions”, he said on the sidelines of the reception offered by the Government of Macau in Lisbon.
The Chief Executive highlighted the community’s contribution to the city’s socio-economic recovery and the need for more qualified foreign staff, especially after the departure of many workers during the pandemic, with Portuguese professionals especially in demand in the legal and teaching areas.
In a year in which the Portuguese authorities also renewed the diplomats deployed in Beijing and in the Macao SAR, the visit thus adds impetus to the resumption of political cooperation between Portugal, China, Macau and Portuguese-speaking countries.
