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which the Portuguese did not attain was a handover date some time
in the first decade of the next century. They argued that this was
necessary to allow sufficient time to groom local administrators
capable of running the SAR (the Macau public service, unlike that of
Hong Kong, contains only a very small ethnically Chinese element.
The Chinese were adamant, however, that the transfer must take place
before the end of this century, a point which the Portuguese had
eventually to concede.
4.
The Government and inhabitants of Macau were not informed of
the progress of the negotiations. There was no representative of
the Macau Government in the Portuguese negotiating team. There was
surprisingly little interest in the territory, either in the
negotiations or the eventual agreement. Indeed, interest is
probably greater in Hong Kong than in Macau. The general feeling
to have been that Macau was already acknowledged to be Chinese
territory; that the Hong Kong agreement effectively determined the
shape of Macau's future; and that it was predictable that an almost
identical Joint Declaration should lay the basis for a Macau SAR.
5.
Our main interest throughout the negotiations was in
impressing on the Chinese the fact that arrangements in Macau would
be very closely studied in Hong Kong. Any belief there that Macau
had somehow got a better deal would be bad for confidence. The
Chinese were receptive to this point. On publication of the Macau
agreement, the reaction in Hong Kong was generally favourable, with
few suggestions that Macau had done better.
6.
The one area to attract such suggestions was nationality
arrangements. But in fact the Chinese position is identical where
Macanese holders of Portuguese passports and Hong Kong holders of
British passports are concerned. Such differences as there are
between these two categories lie in the existing nationality
legislation of Portugal and Britain. Portuguese passport holders in
Macau have the right of abode in Portugal while BDTCs (and BN (0)s)
in Hong Kong do not have the right of abode in the UK.
7.
On 30 May, Pinto Machado, Governor of Macau, resigned. His reasons for doing so were not clear, but it seems likely that he was
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