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-SEPTEMBER, 1996- |
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09/23/1996 | Portuguese colony picks China-friendly government |
Portuguese colony picks China-friendly government
September 23, 1996 Web posted at: 6:00 p.m. EDT (2200 GMT)
MACAU (CNN) -- Macau completed its last vote under Portuguese rule Sunday, choosing a legislative assembly that is expected to continue its rule even after Macau's return to Chinese rule in 1999.
A record 64 percent of Macau's registered voters turned out for the vote, the largest turnout since direct elections were introduced in 1976. Rumors that the 14-day election campaign was filled with bought votes prompted complaints: Several are set to be investigated.
Considering that the territory's major industries are tourism and gambling, the results of the poll were unsurprising. By and large, the winners of the election were business groups, which took four of the eight directly elected seats at stake in the 23-seat Legislative Assembly.
Seven of the eight winners were also pro-China, compared to six of eight in the previous administration. Business leaders in Macau, as in the rest of the world, have a stake in China, and rarely do anything to upset the relationship.
The remaining 15 members are indirectly elected by special interest groups, or appointed by Macau's Portuguese colonial governor, General Vasco Rocha Vieira.
Macau has been a Portuguese colony for 500 years, acting as a jumping-off point for Western trade with China. In recent years, the colony has become best known for its casinos and colorful nightlife.
But in 1999, Portugal will hand the colony back to Beijing. This election was carefully watched for clues about the upcoming transition.
The outcome reflected a widespread view here that tiny Macau, population 424,000, has little to gain and much to lose by challenging Beijing.
"China is like our mother," said one Macau man. "How can a child argue with its mother?"
David Liu, a pro-China legislator, was more pragmatic. "We have many common interests with China. We have worked with the Chinese government for a long time. We are all Chinese. We share the same goals," he said.
Macau's attitude towards China contrasts sharply with Hong Kong's. In that British colony, which reverts from British to Chinese rule next summer, pro-democracy activists hostile to China's control are vocal in the local legislature. They have so angered Beijing that the Chinese have vowed to disband the entire body once they take over.
But in Macau, call it cooperation or call it kow-towing, the people have produced a legislature that won't rock the boat, and the Chinese have promised to let the new Legislative Assembly straddle the transition and serve until 2001.
Correspondent Mike Chinoy, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
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