On the eve of another anniversary of the Carnation Revolution and the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the entry into force of the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic (CRP), it is important to recall that Macau was not absent from the debates of the Constituent Assembly and that the original version of the CRP contained specific provisions regarding Macau’s status.
In 1972, upon the admission of the People’s Republic of China to the United Nations, China demanded the removal of Macau from the list – approved by the General Assembly in 1960 – of Portuguese “non-self-governing territories.”
After April 25, 1974, an initial attempt to return Macau to the People’s Republic of China was ultimately rejected by Beijing. Nevertheless, in line with the spirit of the Revolution – which, among other principles, upheld the immediate end of the colonial war and the recognition of the right to self-determination and independence of Portuguese colonies – paragraph 4 of Article 5 of the CRP excluded Macau from the definition of Portuguese national territory, recognizing it instead as a territory under Portuguese administration.
Furthermore, Article 306 specifically regulated Macau’s status, maintaining in force Law No. 1/76 of 17 February, which enacted the Organic Statute of Macau. It also required that any amendment to, or replacement of, that statute be proposed by the Legislative Assembly of Macau to the Assembly of the Republic, and that, if the proposal were approved with modifications, the President of the Republic could only promulgate it after the Legislative Assembly had given its favourable opinion.
These constitutional provisions not only paved the way for negotiations between Portugal and the People’s Republic of China – culminating in the 1987 Sino-Portuguese Joint Declaration – but also ensured the continuity of the Organic Statute of Macau. It should not be overlooked that this statute introduced direct suffrage as early as 1976, implemented in Hong Kong only 15 years later, in the 1991 elections.
