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Soundr Familiar!
Sea Boundary
3. We asked Portela about reports in the press that the Chinese and Portuguese had been discussing the sea boundary between Macau and the mainland. If so this might have implications for our own boundary discussions with the Chinese. Portela said that the Portuguese had indeed raised this issue at the last JLG meeting but there had been no substantive discussion. The Portuguese had merely suggested that this was an issue which the two sides could tackle in the future and the Chinese had made no comment.
4. Portela said that relations in the Land Commission were still very difficult though he thought he was making some progress by maintaining close personal contact with his opposite number. The two sides constantly ran into difficulties particularly in the Land Commission but also in the JLG itself because the Chinese 'were constantly demanding information which the Macanese
authorities were unwilling to provide. The Chinese had for jexample been putting pressure on the Macanese government to change the way in which it offered land to developers. The Chinese had been arguing for a system of auctions akin to that of Hong Kong and would not accept that this was contrary to normal Macanese practice. Portela said that he very much hoped to be able to persuade the Macanese authorities to be more open in their provision of information to China but he did not seem very confident of success. He pointed out again that the Portuguese government could do little to bring pressure on the Macanese
?authorities, which of course depended on the President of Portugal
rather than on the Government. He commented that he hoped the new appointee which Soares would name only in March after his own reinauguration would take a different, more open, attitude, but he did not seem particularly hopeful.
5. Portela said that he thought it unlikely that Catarino would ever take up residence in Macau as Senior Representative of the Portuguese side. He anticipated that Catarino would hold his job perhaps until the end of the year when a Senior Representative who would reside in Macau would be appointed. that time he Portela would also leave. He expressed some amazement that Ramos had chosen to become a member of the Macanese government which had necessitated his resignation from the Foreign Ministry. It was of course entirely likely that he could reclaim his place in the MFA but he would not be able to stay on in Macau. He was experiencing difficulties in his post as Secretary of the Transition since the other Secretaries all thought they had responsibilities for the transition in their own areas and were unwilling to trust matters to Ramos. In Portela's view Ramos had made a bad mistake in electing to take on the Secretary's job. He commented that perhaps Ramos's academic interests had dictated his choice. Plainly there is still a
difficulty extent. Yes atce
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Branches resent the "interference"
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