The air in the Special Administrative Region (SAR) is filled with the fragrance of the beautiful flowers the people of Macao have decorated their territory with for the coming first anniversary of the handover on December 20.
Edmund Ho, for the first time in his tenure as the Macao SAR chief executive, went to Beijing Sunday to make his first administrative report. He will be met by President Jiang Zemin and Premier Zhu Rongji Monday, according to the local Macao Daily.
Jiang will attend the grand celebrations in person to witness the progress that the Macao government and people have made over the past year.
The Macao people will tell you of the great changes that have taken place here in the past one year under the leadership of the Macao SAR government headed by Ho: the economic situation is improved, the social order is better, tourism is booming and people here are enjoying a high degree of autonomy.
Participants at a seminar to study the achievements that have followed the implementation of the "one country, two systems" and the Basic Law attributed the delightful changes to the successful implementation of this important principle. Officials and scholars from Hong Kong and the mainland joined their counterparts in Macao and ordinary citizens of the SAR on Saturday to discuss the development of Macao over the past year.
The participants agreed that Macao is another example of the success of the principle of "one country, two systems," following Hong Kong, which has enabled the Macao people to enjoy a high degree of autonomy. At the same time, the principle has laid a sound foundation for Macao to go on with further development.
Before the handover, the economy was bad and so was the social order, and there was an insufficient financial reserve at the beginning of the establishment of the SAR. But now things have been changed, according to the participants. They also praised the SAR government headed by Ho for its down-to-earth and practical policies.
The scholars also advised that the government should be well prepared to meet the opportunities and challenges in the economic globalization and information age so that the government can seek to further develop the safety, stability and prosperity of the SAR.
The Macao people also held a series of celebrations to mark the first anniversary of the SAR's return to the motherland.
The premiere showing of the film Macao Children was held Sunday in honour of the anniversary. The 90-minute film narrates the ordinary lives and stories of a group of aboriginal Macao people from the point of view of a woman reporter, to show the strong love the Macao people have for the region.
Hong Kong Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa will also attend the celebration activities tomorrow, accompanied by his wife Betty Tung and major Hong Kong officials.
(China Daily 12/18/2000)
