Macao Looks to Future and Sees Face of Peking : Portuguese Colony, Now Under Mainland Influence, Will Be Part of China

Portuguese for more than 400 years and still exuding some of its old Iberian charm, Macao goes about its bustling business every day, fully aware that someday it will be going the way of nearby Hong Kong.

It will be part of China.

But even that knowledge has not stopped the enclave from looking to the future.

New hotels, apartment buildings and office blocks have sprung up and there is talk of dredging silt from the Pearl River to build a deep-water port for freighters engaged in trade with China.

Like Hong Kong, 40 miles to the northeast, Macao’s future hinges on China. The Communist government in Peking claims Macao as its sovereign territory, as it has Hong Kong and Taiwan, seat of the rival Nationalist Chinese government.

British Hong Kong will become Chinese in 1997 as the result of a treaty between China and Britain in December.

Mainland Influence Heavy

There is no date set for Macao to become Chinese, but mainland influence is already heavy in Macao; its Portuguese administrators do not do anything of importance without first consulting Peking’s representative here.

Settled by the Portuguese in 1557, Macao is the oldest European settlement in the Far East and Portugal’s last foothold in Asia. Its population an estimated half a million, 97% Chinese, is squeezed into six square miles of territory--consisting of a peninsula, connected to China by an isthmus, and two small islands. It adjoins China’s Guangdong Province and is on the estuary of the Pearl River.

The idea of coming under the rule of Peking has not seemed to have any outward adverse effect on the people of Macao--in contrast to Hong Kong, where some people already have fled despite China’s guarantee that it will retain its present economic system for 50 years after the British leave.

But there is a noticeable reluctance of many here to talk about it to outsiders and especially to be identified with any comment for publication.

Recrimination Feared

A newspaper editor, himself speaking only on condition of anonymity, said one reason for the reluctance is a fear of possible recrimination when the Chinese take over. Another, he said, is a China-Macao agreement that requires authorities here to deport to China anyone deemed to be an anti-Communist troublemaker.

“Macao’s situation is not much different from Hong Kong’s,” the editor said. “About half of Macao’s population are refugees from China who have lived under communism.”

The agreement to deport anti-communists was signed in 1967 after local security forces killed eight Chinese during riots linked to Mao Tse-tung’s tumultuous Cultural Revolution in China. Under pressure from China, authorities here also ordered leading Nationalist Chinese to leave and banned pro-Nationalist organizations.

Since then, it is said, Macao authorities have seldom made a major decision without first consulting China’s chief representative here, a post held now by Ke Zhengping, general manager of a trading firm that also serves as a consular mission.

The Portuguese governor, Rear Adm. Vasco de Almeida e Costa, has declined repeatedly to speculate on the effects the British-Chinese agreement on Hong Kong would have on Macao. He responds to such questions by saying only that there are differences in the status of the two territories.

1979 Agreement

In 1979, when China and Portugal established diplomatic relations, both countries agreed to recognize Macao as Chinese territory administered by the Portuguese, with the provision that it be returned to China through peaceful negotiations at a later date.

Almeida e Costa, 53, arrived in Macao in 1981, and governs Macao with the help of an eight-member advisory council, half of whose members are Chinese and the remainder either Portuguese or Macanese, people of Portuguese heritage.

To watch over executive decisions, and sometimes recommend changes, there is a 17-member Legislative Assembly, six of whose members are elected directly by Macao’s voters, six others by trade unions or other professional organizations, and the remaining five are appointed by the governor. The existing assembly is composed of seven Chinese and the remainder are either Portuguese or Macanese.

“Macao has a bright future and there is no confidence problem here,” said Ma Mankei, a member of the Legislative Assembly and a delegate to China’s National People’s Congress in Peking.