Tue, Dec 21, 1999 page1

• Macau upbeat as Chinese troops move in

  HANDOVER The new Special Administrative Region's first day under Chinese rule was marked by celebrations and the arrival of hundreds of People's Liberation Army soldiers in the enclave

  • By Laurence Eyton / STAFF REPORTER
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  Macau was in a buoyant mood yesterday, notwithstanding a seemingly endless line of ceremonies on its first day of Chinese rule.

  Tens of thousands of Macau's residents were on the streets at midnight on Sunday celebrating the handover, a clear reflection of the fact that the change of sovereignty has by and large been welcomed here, without the suspicion and the protests that marred the handover of Hong Kong two and a half years ago.

  At the handover ceremony itself, Chinese President Jiang Zemin (|蕞A民) stressed the importance of the Macau handover in creating a blueprint for the settlement of the so-called Taiwan question.

  

  Children look at a People's Liberation Army soldier yesterday in Macau.

  PHOTO: CHEN CHENG-CHANG, TAIPEI TIMES

  "The implementation of `one country, two systems' in Hong Kong and Macau has played and will continue to play an important, exemplary role for our eventual settlement of the Taiwan question," Jiang said.

  Following Jiang's speech was an inauguration ceremony and swearing-in of the Macau Special Administrative Region (SAR) government at a ceremony presided over by Jiang, Premier Zhu Rongji (|黑靚?/CHINESE>) and Vice Premier Qian Qichen (錢其琛), which lasted well into the early hours of the morning.

  At the head of the SAR's new government is Edmund Ho, whose family owns the Tai Fung Bank, one of Macau's largest, and has long been prominent in Chinese community affairs. Ho's father, Ho Yin, was leader of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce in Macau for 20 years starting in the 1960s and was an important intermediary between China and the Portuguese authorities before the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1979.

  Ho himself swore in the officials of the new administration, which has been criticized for the overall lack of experience of its members.

  For most people in Macau, however, the highlight of the day -- even eclipsing a spectacular parade held throughout the afternoon arranged by the official handover committee -- was the entry of the People's Liberation Army garrison into the SAR from barracks in the neighboring Chinese city of Zhuhai.

  A convoy of 40 vehicles brought some 700 PLA troops, most of whom were from crack army units. A small naval contingent will be based in Macau but, unlike its Hong Kong counterpart, it will not be equipped with guided-missile vessels.

  Due to a lack of military facilities inherited from the Portuguese -- Lisbon had not stationed troops in the enclave ever since the revolution of 1974 -- the garrison will be billeted in an empty residential apartment block on reclaimed land near the waterfront, one of many empty buildings left as a result of the bursting of a property bubble in the last 12 months.

  A crowd of 150,000 assembled in Zhuhai, which borders Macau, to see off the PLA troops, including not only locals but people from many other parts of China. One group of retired cadres had even spent 26 days bicycling from Shanghai to see what they considered to be a historic occasion.

  The PLA troops drove across the border to a reception ceremony in which Chinese community leaders presented them with a souvenir banner and plaque praising what it called "a powerful and civilized army."

  Always anxious to distance itself from the specter of the Tiananmen incident in June 1989, when PLA troops killed thousands of unarmed pro-democracy demonstrators, the PLA has been at pains to stress the cultural level of the troops. Most of them have tertiary education, according to the PLA, while three of them have master's degrees.

  It is not, however, as cultural ambassadors that residents welcomed them yesterday with cheering, flag waving, fire crackers and lion dances. Rather, it is the idea that the PLA might bring an end to the gang violence that has afflicted Macau in the last two years.

  Major General Liu Yuejun, the new commander of the PLA garrison in Macau, told Chinese state-run TV in November that his troops were ready to assist in maintaining social order in Macau, while Edmund Ho has also raised the prospect of using the PLA against the triads, threatening to "use whatever resources are permitted under the law, not only the police."

  In the wake of negative economic growth of 6.8 percent last year as a result of gang violence scaring away tourists, few people are overly worried about the civil liberty questions involved in soldiers doing police tasks. The real police force is seen as either too corrupt or simply too scared to deal with the triads -- many of whose members are ex-PLA members themselves. Thank heavens, therefore, for the army, is the overwhelming sentiment.

  But exactly when and how the PLA might be used has not been specified. Under the Basic Law the administration is allowed to ask for assistance from the military if it feels that social order is endangered.

  But the kind of endangering of social order the Basic Law seems to have had in mind was riot control. How the PLA might raise the quality of policing outside of riot-control situations is a question that few in Macau seem to have asked.
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