The transfer of sovereignty of Macau from the Portuguese Republic to the People's Republic of China (PRC) occurred on 20 December 1999. Portuguese merchants settled in Macau and governed themselves since the time of the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644 AD), first establishing a foothold in 1535, though Portugal's involvement was only formalized by the Qing Dynasty in 1749. Following the First Opium War and the Treaty of Nanking, the emboldened Portuguese Governor made an attempt to govern the Chinese citizens of Macau, by expelling Qing authorities on Macau in 1846, but the Governor was assassinated. After the Second Opium War, the Portuguese government, along with a British representative, signed the Sino-Portuguese Treaty of Peking that gave Portugal sovereignty over Macau, with the caveat that Portugal would cooperate with anti-smuggling efforts against opium.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, and its resumed membership at the United Nations in 1971, foreign minister Huang Hua of China appealed to the UN Special Committee on Decolonization to remove Macau (and Hong Kong) from its list of colonies, preferring bilateral negotiations ending in a return of the territory, rather than the expected independence outcome. In 1974, a coup in Portugal expelled the ruling authoritarian right-wing government in Portugal. In the course of a year, the government of Portugal withdrew its troops from Macau, withdrew its recognition of the Republic of China in favor of the People's Republic, and began negotiations for the return of Macau. Four conferences from June 1986 to March 1987 resulted in a Sino-Portuguese Joint Declaration on 13 April 1987 and the transfer of sovereignty on 20 December 1999. Macau is granted a high level of autonomy and the retention of its legal system by the Macau Basic Law.
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Portuguese merchants began to settle in Macau as early as the Ming Dynasty (which ruled from 1368 onward). In 1583, the Portuguese residents established their own assembly to enforce autonomous rule without the permission of the Chinese government. However, Portugal was still obliged to pay the Ming Dynasty and later, the Qing Dynasty, 25 kilograms (55 lb) of silver as a token of annual lease. Because of the Portuguese settlers and the activities of Japanese Wokou, the Ming Dynasty tightened its control over Macau between 1608 and 1614. In 1623, the Portuguese government appointed D. Francisco Mascarenhas as the Governor of Macau. At first, the governor was only responsible for the defense of Macau, and Fortaleza do Monte was constructed for this purpose. In 1749, the Qing government issued a complete set of guidelines for Portugal's administration of Macau and carved the Portuguese version on a stela in the Edifício do Leal Senado. However, the Governor of Macau, the representative of Portugal, gradually took over the power of the Senado.
When the Treaty of Nanking was signed in 1842 between Britain and China, the Portuguese government requested the Qing government to exempt them from the ground rent. The Qing authorities refused the request, but retained the preferentials that were already given to Portugal. However, on 20 November 1845, Maria II of Portugal unilaterally declared Macau a free port in which Portugal was exempt from ground rent and allowed merchant vessels of other countries to interact freely in Macau. After the new Governor of Macau, João Ferreira do Amaral, arrived in 1846, a series of colonial policies were enforced in Macau. In May 1846, Amaral demanded that all Chinese residents in Macau pay ground rent, poll tax and property tax, which broadened Portuguese rule in Macau over the Chinese residents. The Qing authorities in Macau immediately protested against Amaral's action and attempted to negotiate. However, beginning in 1849, Amaral expelled all Qing officials from Macau, destroyed the Qing Customs and stopped paying ground rent to the Qing government. Amaral's actions enraged the Chinese residents further, and he was assassinated on 22 August 1849.
In 1862, the Portuguese and Qing governments signed the draft of the Sino-Portuguese Peaceful Trade Pact. However, the Portuguese had the intention of annexing Macau with this pact. The intention was discovered and negotiations were stopped. The topic was not brought up again until 1886, when the Portuguese representative, along with the British representative, opened negotiations with the Qing government once again. Promising that they would cooperate on the anti-smuggling of opium, the Qing and Portuguese governments signed the Sino-Portuguese Treaty of Peking and the Sino-Portuguese Peaceful Trade Relation Pact. These treaties stated that, "Agreed by China, Portugal will remain in Macau and administer its land the same way Portugal administers other places". However, to avoid the total loss of sovereignty, the Qing government reserved the right to prevent Portugal from transferring Macau to another country. If Portugal were going to transfer Macau to another country, they would require the permission of the Chinese government.
When the government of the People's Republic of China obtained their seat in the United Nations as a result of the UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 in 1971, they began to act diplomatically on the sovereignty issues of Hong Kong and Macau. Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai was especially concerned with the issues, and the Chinese UN representative, Huang Hua, mailed the United Nations De-colonization Committee to state the standpoint of the Chinese government: "Hong Kong and Macau were Chinese territories captured by Britain and Portugal, and the act to solve the issues of Hong Kong and Macau is within the range of Chinese sovereignty. These issues are about China as a sovereign state on restoring its sovereignty in the territories that were captured, and are different from the regular issues within the range of colonization, and are definitely not about granting independence." The same year, on November 8, the United Nations General Assembly passed the resolution on removing Hong Kong and Macau from the official list of colonies. This created the conditions for the Chinese government to solve the sovereignty issues of Hong Kong and Macau peacefully.
On 25 April 1974, a group of low-ranking Portuguese officers organized a coup d'état, overthrowing the right-wing ruling government that had been in power for 48 years. The new government began the democratization process. The new Portuguese government carried out de-colonization policies, and proposed Macau's handover to China.
On 31 December 1975, the Portuguese government withdrew its remaining troops from Macau. President António Ramalho Eanes attended the General Assembly of the United Nations a year later, and discussed with the Chinese representative, Huang Hua, the establishment of diplomatic relations between Portugal and China, and issues of Macau. After two years of discussions, the Portuguese government decided to break off diplomatic relations with the Republic of China on 8 February 1979, and established diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China the next day. Both Portugal and the People's Republic of China recognized Macau as the territory of China, and the exact time for its return and other details would be discussed later between the two sides.
After Portugal and the People's Republic of China formally established diplomatic relations, officials of the two countries began to visit each other. In March 1980, the Governor of Macau, Nuno Viriato Tavares de Melo Egídio, accepted an invitation from Beijing and visited China. As the relationship between Portugal and China developed, their heads of state began to visit each other also. In November 1984, the President of the People's Republic of China, Li Xiannian, made a visit to Portugal and met the President of Portugal, António Ramalho Eanes, to exchange opinions on the issues of Macau. In May 1985, Eanes returned the favor by visiting China and met the de facto leader of China Deng Xiaoping, and expressed his desire to solve the issues of Macau in a friendly manner.
Britain and China reached a consensus on the sovereignty question of Hong Kong, which was more complex in its nature. The consensus included the draft of the Sino-British Joint Declaration. Likewise, Sino-Portuguese relations developed steadily, and solving the question of Macau through negotiation was gradually made possible.
On 20 May 1986, the People's Republic of China, along with Portugal, officially announced that talks on Macanese affairs would begin on June 30 in Beijing. The Portuguese delegation arrived in Beijing in June, and was welcomed by the Chinese delegation led by Zhou Nan. In the welcoming speech, it was stated that, the "Negotiation between China and Portugal on Macau affairs is going to be a talk between two partners, not two opponents." Negotiations between China and Portugal on Macau officially began.
The talks consisted of four sessions, all held in Beijing:
On 13 April 1987, the Joint Declaration on the Question of Macau by the governments of the People's Republic of China and the Republic of Portugal was formally signed by the Prime Ministers of both governments in Beijing. In the same year, the joint declaration was ratified by both sides.
The twelve years between the signing of the "Sino-Portuguese Declaration" on 13 April 1987 and the transfer of sovereignty on 20 December 1999 were known as "the transition".
On 15 January 1988, the Chinese Foreign Affairs Department announced the Chinese members of the groups that would begin the talk on the issues of Macau during the transition. On April 13, the "Draft of the Basic Law of the Macau Special Administrative Region Committee" was established during the seventh National People's Congress, and on October 25, the committee convened the first conference, in which they passed the general outline of the draft and the steps, and decided to organize the "Draft of the Basic Law of Macau Special Administrative Region Information Committee". On 31 March 1993, the National People's Congress passed the resolution on the Basic Law of Macau, which marked the beginning of the latter part of the transition.
In the afternoon of December 19, 1999, the 127th Portuguese Governor of Macau Vasco Joaquim Rocha Vieira lowered the flags in Macau, which was the prelude of the ceremony for the establishment of the Macau Special Administrative Region. The official transfer of sovereignty was held at midnight on that day at the Cultural Center of Macau Garden. The ceremony began in the evening and ended at dawn of December 20.
The evening of December 19 began with dragon and lion dances. These were followed by a slideshow of historical events and features of Macau, which included a mixture of the religions and races of the East and the West, and the unique society of native Portuguese born in Macau. In the final performance, 422 children who represented the 422 years of Portuguese history in Macau were presented along with several international stars to perform the song "Praise for Peace".
The transfer of the sovereignty of Macau was a significant historical event in Macau, as it returned Macau to the People's Republic of China. Because the transfer and the idea of one country, two systems were considered to be successful, the Macau Special Administrative Region, the Legislative Assembly and the Judiciary were all put into practice accordingly under the regulation of the Basic Law.
The steady growth of the Macau Special Administrative Region benefited from the support of the government of China. Since the establishment of the region, public security has been improved and the central government even designated Macau as the city for expansion of gambling-related tourism. The introduction of the Individual Visit Scheme policy made it easier for Chinese mainland residents to travel back and forth. In 2005 alone, there were more than 10 million tourists from mainland China, which made up 60% of the total number of tourists in Macau. The income from the gambling houses in Macau reached almost US$5.6 billion.[1] On 15 July 2005, the Historic Center of Macau was listed as a World Cultural Heritage site. The increasing development of tourism became a major factor in the rapid development of the economy of Macau.
For Portugal, the transfer of the sovereignty of Macau to China marked the end of the Portuguese overseas empire and its decolonization process.