Editorial: Sam Hou Fai – our ‘down-to-earth’ CE-elect

I must admit that when I first heard a rumour in late August about Macau’s top judge, Sam Hou Fai, going to run for the special administrative region’s top executive post and the current chief executive, Ho Iat Seng, would not be seeking a second term, I was flabbergasted.  Well, a study released by the US-based science advancement online journal PlosOne in 2016* found that rumours that are ultimately proven true tend to be resolved faster than those that turn out to be false.In this

October 21, 2024 | BY admin

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Editorial: Last-ditch negotiations must succeed to avert China-EU trade war over EV tariffs

After the 27 European Union countries failed on Friday to agree on whether to slap China-made electric vehicles (EVs) with steeper tariffs, the European Commission under President Ursula von der Leyen may now finally get its controversial proposal to raise EU import duties on the environmentally friendly automobiles from China off the ground. The protectionist tariffs were proposed in June by the Commission, which claimed that China-made EVs were benefitting from government subsidies

October 7, 2024 | BY admin

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Editorial: Hengqin – a dialectical relationship between challenge and opportunity for Macau

Today marks the 3rd Anniversary of the inauguration of the Management Committee of the Guangdong-Macau In-depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin – one of the most important days on the political calendar of the Macau Special Administrative Region (MSAR), considering that it has elevated Macau’s status within the framework of the “One Country, Two Systems” by adding a novel element to its implementation. The inauguration ceremony on September 17, 2021 took place about a fortnight after

September 17, 2024 | BY admin

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Editorial: China, Africa join hands to advance global modernisation

Considering that China and Africa account for around one-third of the world population, “without our modernisation, there will be no global modernisation,” President Xi Jinping underlined in his keynote address* at the opening ceremony of the 2024 Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in Beijing last week. Nobody in their right mind would disagree with Xi, who also stressed that “the friendship between China and Africa transcends time and space, surmounts mountains

September 9, 2024 | BY admin

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Editorial: Xi’an – where antiquity & modernity meet

A fact-finding visit to Xi’an, one of China’s Four Great Ancient Capitals (alongside Beijing, Nanjing and Luoyang) by an 18-member Portuguese- and English-language media delegation between Friday night and Sunday afternoon, of which I had the honour and pleasure to join, has reaffirmed my long-held view that the city of 13 million residents is one of the world’s prime examples of a site where antiquity and modernity meet in a strikingly congruent manner The visit was splendidly

September 4, 2024 | BY admin

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Editorial: Xiong’an – future in the making before our eyes

 At the invitation of the local Commissioner’s Office of the Foreign Affairs Ministry, representatives of Macau’s Portuguese- and English-language – media including The Macau Post Daily – visited last week two places in the Chinese mainland that represent both the nation’s ancient history and promising future – Xi’an and Xiong’an. The delegation also included several journalists from the local Chinese-language media, such as Macao Daily News and Cable TV. Both

September 3, 2024 | BY admin

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Editorial: 3rd plenum upholds realistic-cum-pragmatic approach to deepening reform

The 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) adopted a resolution at the conclusion of its four-day third plenum last week on “Further Deepening Reform Comprehensively to Advance Chinese Modernisation,” vowing, among other things, to “take a realistic and pragmatic approach, as we work to further unleash and develop the productive forces and tap into and boost the vitality of our society.”I have been convinced since my years at university back in the 1970s that for

July 22, 2024 | BY admin

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Editorial: Foreign residents given tremendous midsummer gift

Macau’s about 20,000 foreign permanent residents* received yesterday a tremendous midsummer present from BeijingThe gift was warmly welcomed by permanent residents holding foreign nationality like my humble self. We all – wherever we are from – should thank the central authorities for this great bounty. The National Immigration Administration (NIA) announced yesterday that non-Chinese permanent residents of Hong Kong and Macau will be able to apply for mainland travel permits

July 2, 2024 | BY admin

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Editorial: The Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence – needed more than ever

After attending Friday’s conference marking the 70th anniversary of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence and one of its four sub-forums in Beijing on Friday, I am convinced all the more that they are needed more than ever. While participating in an exchange session with the nine panellists of the second sub-forum’s Topic 1 on “Upholding independence and jointly building a just and equitable international governance system”, headed by China Public Diplomacy Association

July 1, 2024 | BY admin

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Editorial: New guidelines put ‘diehard’ Taiwan separatists on final notice

The central authorities have put Taiwan’s hardcore separatists, those seeking foreign support in particular, on final notice, urging them to accept the “One China” principle or face the music, capital punishment in extremis. A set of guidelines was jointly released by the Supreme People’s Court, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate and the ministries of public security, state security and justice in Beijing on Friday. The guidelines impose criminal penalties on “diehard”

June 24, 2024 | BY admin

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Editorial: West’s ‘overcapacity’ narrative rears its ugly head again

Déjà vu! The West’s ill-advised “overcapacity” narrative is rearing its ugly head again, this time targeting China. Just a few decades ago it was aimed at Japan. “Japan bashing” was all the rage in the 1980s as the island nation was perceived by many in the US as a threat to its economy. In 1987 several members of Congress, histrionically swinging sledgehammers, demolished a Toshiba radio on the Capitol, acting out their anger at claims that a subsidiary of the Japanese

May 20, 2024 | BY admin

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Editorial: Ideal reciprocity – GBA as Macau’s growth diversifier, Macau as GBA’s int’l interface

       A car ride from Macau through the Pearl River Delta (PRD) conurbation for a recent three-day Easter holiday trip to Guangzhou has reaffirmed my confidence in the great development potential of the vast Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area (GBA), which includes the PRD. The GBA marks this year the seventh anniversary of its establishment by the State Council. Since then, it has developed by leaps and bounds. Even the three-year COVID-19 pandemic couldn’t

May 6, 2024 | BY admin

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Editorial: Mutuality, amity set Forum Macao apart

This week’s 6th Ministerial Conference of the Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries, also known as Forum Macao, has shown, once more, that mutuality and amity continue to be the globe-spanning forum’s most salient characteristics. Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao said in a speech during the ministerial conference at its Sai Van service platform complex – its de-facto headquarters – that all the nine participating

April 24, 2024 | BY admin

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Editorial: Forum Macao and Global Community of Shared Future – an organic relationship

The three-day, 10-nation 6th Ministerial Conference of the Forum for Economic and Trade Co-operation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries (Macao), also simply known as Forum Macao, will start this upcoming Sunday. Initiated by the Central People’s Government in October 2003 and organised by the Ministry of Commerce (MOC) in conjunction with a number of Portuguese-speaking countries (PSCs) whose membership of the organisation now stands at nine, Forum Macao has grown into

April 15, 2024 | BY admin

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