By Mario de Queiroz
LISBON, Nov 23 1999 (IPS)

The lowering of the Portuguese flag over the enclave of Macao in less than a month will mark the end of five centuries of European presence in Asia, a colonial period launched by the Portuguese themselves in 1498, with the conquest of western India.

As in Africa, the Portuguese were the first to arrive in Asia and will be the last to pull out.

But unlike the wars that marked the decolonisation of India and of Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique and Sao Tomé- Príncipe, the handover of Macao will have more in common with Brazil’s process of gaining independence last century; it will be negotiated and peaceful.

In assuming control over Macao on Dec 20, 1999, Beijing will actually be recovering a concession granted to Portuguese navigators in 1557, as repayment for cleaning up the China sea of Malaysian pirates who kept the Chinese from trading with Japan, Korea and other neighbours.

As with the former British colony Hong Kong, China will grant Macao a special statute allowing it to continue functioning with a capitalist economy.

“One country, two systems,” is the formula followed by China’s communist regime in recuperating Hong Kong and Macao. It is also the slogan underlying its efforts to recover the “breakaway” island of Taiwan.

But unlike Hong Kong, Macao was never formally a “colony,” but a “Chinese territory under Portuguese administration” – a subtle difference that may not be significant from a Western point of view, but which the Chinese apparently see as important.

The relationship between Beijing and Lisbon, unlike what occurred two years ago with London in the case of Hong Kong, has been marked by Portuguese pressure to hand back, as soon as possible, a possession that only bled the state coffers.

The formal and informal economies of Macao – tourism, gambling, prostitution, drug trafficking – have in fact been controlled by Chinese nationals for decades.

The Portuguese presence, at least in the second part of this century, has been basically reduced to the pompous maintenance of the governor and his retinue, as well as a costly public administration of more than 3,000 functionaries sent from Lisbon with salaries three times those paid back home.

But the economic ties between Portugal and China are extensive, and do not all pass through Macao. Lisbon does not obtain yields on its investments in the enclave, but rather through trade with Beijing.

The new formula outlined in the Portuguese-Chinese agreement safeguards Portugal’s economic interests up to the year 2050, with administration of the airport as a key item.

Up to now, Macao’s value was emblematic, a symbol of the meeting of East and West, a kind of “monument” to China’s reopening towards the unknown Europe of the 16th century: 300 years of noncommunication separated Marco Polo and the Portuguese.

On a recent visit to Lisbon, Chinese Prime Minister Li Peng underlined that “for you Western journalists, because of its economic dimensions, perhaps Hong Kong is more important than Macao. But in our view, the two enclaves are of equal importance.”

The tiny territory located 60 kilometres from Hong Kong is just 23 square kilometres in size, and is comprised of the Macao peninsula and the islands of Taipa and Coloane.

The density of the population is one of the highest in the world: Macao’s 430,000 inhabitants are crammed into the territory at a ratio of 18,000 per square kilometre.

With respect to nationality, 68.7 percent of inhabitants are Chinese, 27.2 percent Portuguese and 4.1 percent are of other origins.

But just 1.8 percent of the population is Portuguese-speaking, compared to 96.1 percent who speak the main languages of China: Cantonese and Mandarin.

For China, recovering Macao next month will signify completion of the unity of its continental territory. The recovery of Taiwan (Formosa), the island where China’s defeated nationalists took refuge in 1949 with U.S. support, is now Beijing’s chief strategic objective.

According to Macao Governor General Vasco de Rocha Vieira, everything is moving along smoothly toward the handover to Beijing, although he added that “relations with China were not always easy.”

One of the touchy issues were the negotiations of the legal aspects. Portugal insisted that China not apply certain laws to Macao, such as the death penalty, which does not exist in Portugal. And tension recently flared up regarding the entry of Chinese troops before the official handover.

But once the final agreement was signed last year, calm returned to the negotiating table. The last thing left to do is to prepare for the return to Lisbon of functionaries of the government that administered Macao for 442 years.

On Dec 20, the departure of General Rocha Vieira, the last governor of Portugal’s empire in the Orient, from the Palacio Baia da Praia Grande, will mark the end of a saga that began with Vasco da Gama five centuries ago.

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