TNAG-0933-FCO40-1152-Relations-between-Hong-Kong-and-Macau-1980 — Page 79

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1. Mr Clift will wish to see the report from Lisbon of a recent newspaper interview given by the Governor of Macau, General Melo Egidio (Mr Roycroft's letter of 3 January). The letter follows up

reviewed a number of issues of interest to Hong Kong which were received by HM Vice-Consul, Macau, on 23 October and SED on 4 December.

2.

The picture that emerges from the three letters is of a Macau that hitherto has seen itself very much as Hong Kong's poor and dependent relation. General Egidio's remarks confirm that the administration in Macau will be seeking to make the territory less economically dependent on Hong Kong and the Macau Society for Tourism and Leisure (STDM) an organisation based in Hong Kong with an effective monopoly on transport links between Hong Kong and Macau and gambling casinos. It will be interesting to see further assessments of Macau's development Plan (para.3 of Mr Roycroft's letter).

3. General Egidio clearly expects the Chinese Government to play a significant role in Macau's development. There is some evidence of this already, with Chinese investment in Macau increasing and a planned development zone in the new Chinese municipality of Zhuhai (roughly equivalent to Shenzhen). It seems rather strange that Macau should be importing Chinese labour (para.4 of Mr March's letter) given that legal immigration from China has already swollen the population by some 14% (para.4 Mr Roycroft's letter). It is odd, too, that the Chinese should have chosen Macau (where land is relatively expensive) rather than Zhuhai to build the factories in question.

Proposed Construction of International Airport in Macau (para.6 Mr Roycroft's letter)

4.

The Portuguese Ambassador in London first sought HMG's views in November 1976 on a proposal to build an international airport in Macau. Neither we nor the Hong Kong Government were enthusiastic about the proposal and, although our reply reflected this, we suggested that further discussion would be premature until the views of the Chinese Government had been ascertained. We took the same line when the Portuguese raised the matter once again in October 1979 (Mr McLaren's submission of 18 October).

5.

General Egidio seems optimistic of a positive reply (at any moment") from the Chinese, although this is not the assessment of HM Ambassador, Peking (Peking telegram No 837 of 27 September).

Illegal Immigration to Hong Kong from China via Macau

6.

The Macau authorities share Hong Kong's concern over legal and illegal immigration from China. General Egidio'mentions the figure of 'around 50,000 legal immigrants' from China in Macau. SED believe that he has raised the problem of immigration with the central government in Portugal stressing the need for diplomatic initiatives towards Peking.

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