The local government yesterday expressed its “strong opposition” to content relating to Macau in the “2022 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices” issued by the US State Department earlier this week, according to a statement released by the Macau Government Information Bureau (GCS).
“The self-styled report has an axe to grind, and contains baseless commentary, smearing the actual human-rights conditions in Macau. It is a brutal attempt to intervene in Macau’s internal affairs and China’s domestic affairs,” the statement said.
Since Macau’s return to the motherland, the Central People’s Government has fully, accurately, and unswervingly implemented the “One Country, Two Systems” and “Macau people governing Macau” principles, apart from the principle of Macau’s high degree of autonomy, the statement said, adding that the Central People’s Government is committed to law-based governance in the Macau Special Administrative Region (MSAR).
MSAR residents enjoy extensive rights and freedoms enshrined in the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China and the Macau Basic Law, the statement said.
The statement also said that the local government “is dedicated to law-based governance, and has joined hands with Macau residents in order to realise leapfrog development in social and economic matters,” adding that Macau’s “social security system continues to improve”.
The statement also pointed out that “education, healthcare, services for the elderly, infrastructure, housing, and other matters, have recorded rapid development, providing great protection to people’s welfare and their well-being. Such achievements have been highly recognised by the international community, and within local communities.”
The statement also said that “the historic development achievements in Macau cannot be discredited,” adding that thanks to the “strong support from the Central People’s Government, the MSAR will continue to give full play to the city’s advantages, integrate intensively into overall national development, and contribute fresh achievements for the successful and steady implementation of the ‘One Country, Two Systems’ principle.”
