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PORTUGUESE NEGOTIATIONS WITH CHINA CONCERNING MACAO
10
Following the revolution of 25 April 1974, the Portuguese took the initiative in establishing diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China (PRC). In a note of 6 January 1975 the Portuguese Government made clear its desire for diplomatic relations with all countries in the world and especially with China. The note further stated that, as far as the Portuguese Government was concerned, the Peking Government was the sole representative of all the Chinese people; Taiwan was an integral part of the PRC; the territory of Macao could be the subject of negotiations at a time considered suitable by both governments; in the meantime Portugal would assume full responsibility for the vigorous respect for the rights of Chinese citizens resident in Macao. (See Annex for summary translation by Miss Boreland, Research Department, of the relevant sections of "Esperancas de Abril" by Antonio Coimbra Martins).
2. On 13 January 1975 a spokesman for the Chinese MFA said that the PRC regarded the note sympathetically. The position on Taiwan was satisfactory, but there remained a divergence of views over Macao. Beginning in August 1975 there was a series of informal contacts and discussions between Coimbra Martins, the Portuguese Ambassador in Paris, and his Chinese opposite number. Macao was not discussed.
3.
Probably because of the vagaries of Portuguese political life during the mid 1970's, on the one hand, and the evolution of Chinese policy towards the West on the other, it was not until 1978 that the Chinese Ambassador informed Coimbra Martins that his Government wished
to establish diplomatic relations with Portugal. He proposed that negotiations to this end should take place in Paris between himself and
Coimbra Martins.
4.
The subject of Macao was raised by the Chinese immediately after the opening of negotiations as a pre-existing problem (Annex, paragraph 20) According to Coimbra Martins both the parties were realistic and desirous of reaching an agreement. The Chinese saw Macao as a question of principle, the Portuguese as a factor of history. The Portuguese could
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