Is affluent, quiet Macau China’s new unification golden child?
- While Hong Kong struggles through its long summer of discontent, its smaller neighbour is positioning itself as the very model of a modern ‘one country, two systems’ metropolis
- But although the gambling hub appears a picture of stability, it is also grappling with its own social and economic tensions
As Hong Kong’s streets were choked with tear gas, petrol bombs and water cannons in a dramatic escalation of clashes over the weekend, just an hour’s ferry ride away in Macau all was going to Beijing’s plan.
On Sunday, 400 members of the gambling hub’s pro-Beijing elite went ahead as expected and “elected” former legislature head Ho Iat-seng, the only candidate on the ballot, as the city’s next leader.
For Hong Kong’s young protesters, the tightly scripted appointment of Ho, the son of an industrial tycoon with strong ties to China, is yet another reminder for why they have chosen to openly defy Beijing.
For Ho, Hong Kong’s summer-long political unrest has given Macau a chance to position itself as the new poster child of Beijing’s “one country, two system” principle, under which it is about to mark 20 years of Chinese rule. The administration seeks to present the city as a picture of prosperity and stability, one that could ultimately pave the way for Taiwan to return to the mainland China fold.
But Macau has also been built on fault lines that challenge that vision of the future.
Both Hong Kong and Macau adopted the one country, two systems formula when they returned to Chinese sovereignty. The system allows each special administrative region to retain a high degree of autonomy for 50 years and was designed by late paramount leader Deng Xiaoping with the goal of eventually enticing Taiwan back into Beijing’s fold.
