Macau has managed to respond to Beijing’s demands in terms of political and regional integration. What was necessary to “shield” the special administrative region from foreign threats to power has been done. In regional integration, which also starts from Beijing, it is integrated into the Greater Bay Area. It therefore has top marks for complying with the “One Country” principle.
However, there is still a need to respond to the second part of the policy: “One Country, Two Systems”. The autonomy given to Macau and Hong Kong is not limited to the signing of transition agreements with Portugal and the United Kingdom. This autonomy also benefits Beijing. It knows that it can use these two “windows” to improve relations with the West. The “One Country, Two Systems” principle, exclusive to these two regions, is being misinterpreted. Perhaps there is a lack of guidelines that outline the limits of central power and local autonomy. Macau, which is moving towards regional integration and rapprochement with Beijing at a dizzying speed, is adrift in the area of autonomy. Still in the preamble, he only uses it to condition his own plan to bridge the gap with the outside world – it repels not only foreigners, but also Chinese nationals to protect local employment; it loses the multiculturalism and critical thinking it needs to be a platform for understanding and advisor to Beijing. At a regional level this will also have consequences, as there may end up being few arguments in complementing the Greater Bay Area.
He ends up fearing that his autonomy will conflict with the Central Government and, in case of doubt, he waits for orders, or reprimands for inaction (always better than for action). The reality is that Macau can do much more in its condition. Both in involvement with the local community, which has been deficient, and in synergies with Lusofonia, which have fallen into an unproductive routine with an obvious ceiling. Above all, in the struggle to maintain a multicultural society, which includes the West. Not doing so hurts Beijing. The West believes that Macau lost its autonomy during Covid-19, and the city makes no effort to prove otherwise.
*Executive Director of PLATAFORMA
