Chapter 39 3. Resolutely act in accordance with principles and never rely on others

The Chinese and British governments signed the Sino-British Joint Declaration, and negotiations on the Macau issue were naturally put on the agenda. As early as the Ming Dynasty, the Portuguese had started trading and building foreign-style houses in Macao.In 1583, without the consent of the Ming government, the Portuguese residing in Macau established the Macau Council to manage the self-government of the Portuguese community. However, Portugal still paid 500 taels of silver to the Ming government and then the Qing government as land rent every year.Due to the Portuguese settlements in Macau and the activities of Japanese pirates, in the Ming Dynasty in 1608 (the 36th year of Wanli), Cai Shanji, the magistrate of Xiangshan County, strengthened the governance of Macau with the "Ten Rules for the Administration of Macau". In 1614, the imperial court adopted the letter from Zhang Minggang, governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, to strengthen the military defense of Macau. In 1616, Portugal appointed Carlos as Governor of Macau (referred to as Governor of Macau), but he did not take office. In 1623, Portugal appointed Mascaro as Governor of Australia, and officially took office in Macau.Since it was only responsible for the defense of Macau at first, the official residence of the governor of Macau was also located in the Fortress. In 1749 (the 14th year of Qianlong), the Qing government promulgated the "Australian Barbarian Relief Matters Regulations" to improve the laws for foreigners in Australia, and erected its Portuguese stele in the Senado Pavilion. After the Portuguese Minister of Maritime Affairs and Overseas Affairs issued the "Royal Patent" in the name of the Queen of Portugal on April 4, 1783, the council gradually lost most of its power, while the power of the Governor of Macau as the representative of the Portuguese state continued to expand.

In 1842, after the Qing government signed the "Nanjing Treaty" with the United Kingdom to cede Hong Kong, Portugal sent representatives to negotiate with Aixinjueluo Qiying, the imperial envoy of the Qing Dynasty, and demanded that the land rent be exempted and the Portuguese army be stationed on the Macao Peninsula.The Qing government categorically rejected Portugal's request, but maintained various preferential treatments already given to Portugal.On November 20, 1845, Queen Maria II of Portugal unilaterally declared Macao a free port. Apart from allowing foreign merchant ships to berth for trade activities, she also refused to pay land rent to the Qing government. After taking office in April 1846, Australian governor Yamaliu immediately implemented a series of colonial policies. In May 1846, Yamaliu unilaterally announced the collection of land rent, poll tax and real estate tax on the Chinese residents of Macao, extending the ruling power only exercised on Portuguese residents to Chinese residents.Yamaliu's move immediately aroused serious protests and negotiations from Qing officials stationed in Australia.But starting from 1849, Amarius blatantly expelled Qing officials from Macau and destroyed the Qing customs, and stopped paying land rent and silver to the Qing government.Yamaliu's actions further aroused public outrage among Chinese residents.As a result, Yamazuo was assassinated on August 22 of the same year.

In 1862, Portugal and the Qing government initially signed the "Sino-Portuguese Treaty of Peaceful Trade", intending to convert the Macao area into a Portuguese territory, but it ended when it was discovered.Until 1886 (the 12th year of Guangxu), representatives of Portugal and the United Kingdom negotiated with the Qing government on the basis of cooperation in opium smuggling and taxation.As a result, in 1887, the Qing government and Portugal successively signed the "Sino-Portuguese Lisbon Treaty" and the "Treaty of Peace and Commerce". The country is governed no differently than anywhere else."However, in order to avoid the complete loss of sovereignty, the Qing government reserved the right to cede Macau to other countries. If Portugal wants to cede Macau to other countries, it must obtain the consent of China.

Since the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2758 in 1971, the People's Republic of China has taken a legal seat in the United Nations, and has begun to take diplomatic actions on the sovereignty of Hong Kong and Macau.Zhou Enlai, Premier of the State Council at the time, was very concerned about this. Huang Hua, the Chinese representative to the United Nations, also wrote to the United Nations Committee on Decolonization in March 1972 to affirm the Chinese government's position: "Hong Kong and Macao are Chinese territories occupied by Britain and Portugal. The settlement of the Hong Kong and Macao issues is within the scope of China's sovereignty, and it is a matter of China as a sovereign country restoring sovereignty over the occupied territories, rather than an issue that falls within the scope of the usual colonies, let alone gaining independence issues.” On November 8 of the same year, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution to remove Hong Kong and Macau from the list of colonies, which created favorable background conditions for China to peacefully resolve the sovereignty issues of Hong Kong and Macau.

On April 25, 1974, the "Armed Forces Movement" formed by a group of middle and lower-level military officers in Portugal overthrew the extreme right regime that had been in power for 42 years, and the new government began the process of democratization.At that time, the new Portuguese government implemented a decolonization policy and recognized that Macau was not a colony, but Chinese territory. On December 31, 1975, Portugal withdrew the last batch of troops stationed in Macau. In 1976, Portuguese President Antonio Ramalho Eanes attended the United Nations General Assembly and talked with Huang Hua, the Chinese representative to the United Nations, about the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Portugal and the issue of Macao.After two years of negotiations, on February 8, 1979, Portugal severed diplomatic relations with the Republic of China, and officially exchanged the Communiqué on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations with the People's Republic of China on February 9.Both China and Portugal affirm that Macao is Chinese territory, and the time and details of the return will be negotiated by the two governments at an appropriate time.So far, Portugal's changes and actions have laid a good foundation for Sino-Portuguese relations.

After the formal establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Portugal, officials of the two countries began to exchange visits frequently. In March 1980, Governor Yizhidi of Macau paid a visit at the invitation of the Beijing government.And China has also sent many officials (such as: Ren Zhongyi, Xi Zhongxun) to visit Macau.As the friendship between the two countries has grown, top leaders have also begun to exchange visits. In November 1984, Li Xiannian, President of the People's Republic of China, visited Portugal and met with Portuguese President Eanes to exchange views on the Macau issue. In May 1985, the Portuguese President visited China and met with Deng Xiaoping, China's top leader at the time, to resolve the Macau issue amicably.

At that time, on the more complicated issue of Hong Kong's sovereignty, China and the United Kingdom had reached a number of consensuses, including the draft of the Sino-British Joint Declaration.Sino-Portuguese relations are also developing steadily, and the conditions and timing for negotiating a solution to the Macau issue are maturing. On May 20, 1986, the Chinese and Portuguese governments officially issued a press communiqué, announcing that negotiations on the Macau issue would begin in Beijing on June 30 to resolve the Macau issue.By June, the Chinese delegation, led by Zhou Nan, welcomed the Portuguese delegation, and pointed out in his welcoming speech: "The negotiation between China and Portugal on the Macau issue will be a relationship between partners, not between rivals." Therefore, China and Portugal formally held talks on the Macau issue.

All four rounds of talks were held in Beijing, the capital of China, namely: The first round of talks was held from June 30 to July 1, 1986; The second round of talks was held on September 9-10, 1986; The third round of talks was held on October 21-22, 1986; The fourth round of talks was held on March 18-23, 1988. At the beginning of the first round of talks, the Chinese representative proposed the general agenda for the talks: 1. Issues related to the Chinese government's exercise of sovereignty over Macao; 2. Arrangements after China exercises sovereignty over Macau; 3. Arrangements for the transitional period.

The representative of Portugal agreed with the general agenda proposed by the representative of China and discussed accordingly.Secondly, the Chinese representative submitted the Chinese, Portuguese and English versions of the draft "Sino-Portuguese Joint Statement", and made a brief explanation. During the second round of talks, the Chinese representative submitted the annex to the Sino-Portuguese Joint Statement and made relevant explanations.The Portuguese delegation stated that comprehensive comments could only be made after an in-depth study of all the documents, so it was proposed to make comprehensive comments only in the third round of talks.In the end, the two sides negotiated on the time of the third round of talks, the time for setting up a working group after the third round of talks, and the details of the press release issued by Zhou Nan, head of the Chinese delegation, on his visit to Portugal in November, and reached broad consensus.

It was not until the third round of talks that the Portuguese representative finally commented on the documents submitted by the Chinese delegation in the first two rounds of talks, and divided China's opinions into "agreed and accepted", "needs to make appropriate amendments and supplements" and "needs to be further clarified". Comments can only be made after clarifying the exact content and meaning of some concepts.”The Chinese representative immediately praised the positive response of the Portuguese representative, and discussed some issues to be revised mentioned by the Portuguese representative.During the talks, the Portuguese representative took the initiative to propose that some important, substantive and difficult issues should be discussed with the Portuguese President and Prime Minister only when Zhou Nan visited Portugal.But Zhou Nan said: "My visit cannot be regarded as a round of negotiations on the Macau issue, and my visit cannot be used as a substitute for formal talks on the Macau issue. In my meeting with your country's leaders, if you talk about Macau The problems can only be the important and unresolved problems we encountered in the negotiations, instead of resolving all the problems during the visit to Portugal.” Afterwards, the two sides conducted specific discussions on the details of the establishment of a working group and will Proposed full draft agreement document.In the end, the two sides agreed that the working group would start working after Zhou Nan's visit to Portugal.

In the first three rounds of talks, discussions between China and Portugal went relatively smoothly.However, when Zhou Nan visited Portugal, the Portuguese government changed its original position on the date of returning Macau, and extended the date to the beginning of the next century.As a result, after Zhou Nan met with the Portuguese President, he canceled the planned visit.Later, the spokesperson of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs solemnly stated on December 31, 1986: "It is the unshakable firm position and strong desire of the Chinese government and one billion Chinese people, including Macao compatriots, to take back Macao before 2000. The idea of ​​returning Macao after 2000 is unacceptable.” On January 6, 1987, after more than four hours of discussion at the Portuguese State Council, it was agreed in principle to return Macao to China in 1999.After China and Portugal resolved the dispute, the fourth round of talks began on March 18, 1987. In the fourth round of talks, the Chinese and Portuguese delegations jointly expressed that they did not want to encounter any major obstacles, and hoped that this meeting would be the last round of negotiations on the Macau issue.Due to the sincerity of the two parties, even though there were still differences between the dual nationality of the Portuguese in Macau and the protection of the Portuguese cultural characteristics of Macau, they were resolved with respect and mutual concessions.In the end, the Chinese side allowed Macau Portuguese-born people to choose their own nationality (that is, Chinese nationality or maintain Portuguese nationality), and China also respected the Portuguese cultural characteristics of Macau.After four rounds of talks, the two sides jointly issued a press communiqué, announcing that the two countries had reached an agreement on the Macao issue, and that a ceremony for initialing the joint statement would be held in Beijing on March 26. The ceremony would be initialed by the heads of the government delegations of the two countries . On April 13, 1987, the Chinese Premier and the Portuguese Prime Minister formally signed the "Sino-Portuguese Joint Statement" on behalf of the governments of China and Portugal in the West Hall of the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. In 1987, China and Portugal obtained the ratification of the "Sino-Portuguese Joint Statement" within their respective governments.The Chinese and Portuguese governments finally exchanged instruments of ratification on January 15, 1988, and the Sino-Portuguese Joint Statement came into force. After the Sino-Portuguese Joint Declaration was officially exchanged, on January 15, 1988, the Sino-Portuguese Land Group was established, and the return period of Macao began. The concept of "one country, two systems" pioneered by Deng Xiaoping satisfactorily solved the problems of Hong Kong and Macau, which is conducive to the stability of Hong Kong and the prosperity of Macau.After the signing of the Sino-British Joint Declaration, more and more businessmen from various countries came to Hong Kong to invest in building factories and establish commercial institutions. They all hoped to take advantage of the weakening of the British economic power after 1997, so the inflow of funds far exceeded the outflow of funds.This makes Hong Kong safer, more stable and more prosperous. Similarly, after the announcement of the Sino-Portuguese Joint Declaration, international investment continued to pour in; a large-scale reclamation project was about to be completed; Coloane Island and Taipa Island face each other across the sea, which will provide Macau with more space in the future.In addition, "one country, two systems" is also our model for resolving the Taiwan issue.The successful resolution of the Hong Kong and Macao issues has given us more confidence that the two sides of the Taiwan Strait will be reunified; "One Country, Two Systems" has also provided a solution to international disputes, and it cannot but be said to be a great contribution to the cause of world peace.