The government is holding a raft of events today enabling residents to celebrate the 23rd anniversary of the establishment of the Macau Special Administrative Region (MSAR).
At 8 a.m., the government will hold a flag-raising ceremony at Golden Lotus Square. The solemn event will be telecast live by public broadcaster TDM. Starting at 9.30 a.m., a formal reception will be held at the China-Portuguese-speaking Countries Commercial and Trade Service Platform Complex (aka Forum Macao Complex) near Macau Tower.
Also today, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., the Macau Post and Telecommunications Bureau (CTT) will provide a commemorative postmarking service, at a temporary counter of the General Post Office (GPO) in Largo de Senado. Commemorative envelopes to mark the anniversary will also be available for purchase, at three patacas each.
Macau reverted from Portuguese to Chinese administration on December 20, 1999. The change in administration was not, as often wrongly claimed, a transfer of sovereignty. While Portugal unilaterally relinquished its claim of sovereignty over Macau shortly after its anti-colonial Carnation Revolution of April 25, 1974, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) did not exercise its sovereignty over Macau during the city’s Portuguese rule, but it never recognised foreign sovereignty claims over national territory. Consequently, on December 20, 1999 the PRC resumed the exercise of sovereignty over Macau.
