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not modify the Chinese position of principle nor could the Chinese deny the historical fact. The parties had therefore to achieve an undertaking by both sides (the Portuguese word is "compromisso" meaning # commitment" "undertaking" or "agreement") that there would never be a unilateral initiative to change the status quo nor any other method of tackling the problem apart from negotiation, at a time deemed suitable by both sides. There is, incidentally, nothing in Coimbra Martins' text to indicate whether or not the undertaking was a written one.
It
5. Coimbra Martins saw this arrangement as a means of maintaining the status quo after the establishment of diplomatic relations. was also possible to deal with the problem of diplomatic relations by itself and with the conduct of those relations, "without any kind of reserve or limitation, to our mutual advantage". The proof that this was possible lay in the official communique, issued at the signing of the instrument establishing diplomatic relations on 8 February 1979, in which the problem of Macao was not referred to "either directly or indirectly, explicitly or implicitly" (Annex, paragraph 23.)
6.
During the press conference after the issue of the communique the
Portuguese Prime Minister Mota Pinto affirmed that Macao's constitutional
status was not altered by the establishment of diplomatic relations (Lisbon telno 56 of 8 February 1979) i.e. a territory under Portuguese administration governed by a Statute in keeping with its special situation (Portuguese Constitution of 1976 Article 5.4). According to a UPI report on the press conference, the Prime Minister also said that Macao was Chinese territory but remained under Portuguese administration (Hong Kong telno 263 of 13 February 1979). This was confirmed by the Portuguese Ambassador in London (FCO telno 150 of 14 February 1979). According to him the Prime Minister had said that in the Portuguese Constitution it was stated that Macao is Chinese territory under Portuguese administration which, while not strictly correct, more nearly represented the reality in the Ambassador's view. Portuguese officials
in Lisbon denied that the Prime Minister had said that Macao was Chinese territory (Lisbon telno 73 of 20 February 1979).
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