The local government will hold a raft of events tomorrow enabling residents and visitors alike to celebrate the 24th anniversary of the establishment of the Macau Special Administrative Region (MSAR), the Government Information Bureau (GCS) said in a statement yesterday.
At 8 a.m., the government will hold a flag-raising ceremony in Golden Lotus Square in Zape. The ceremony will be hosted by Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng. The guests will include representatives from the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the MSAR, the Office of the Commissioner of the Foreign Ministry in the MSAR, and the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Macau Garrison, as well as MSAR principal officials, heads of the MSAR legislative and judicial organs, the statement said.
The solemn event will be telecast live by public broadcaster TDM.
Starting at 9:30 a.m., a solemn reception will be held at the Services Platform Complex for Commercial and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries (aka Forum Macao Complex) near Macau Tower.
Between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. tomorrow, the statement said, the Macau Post and Telecommunications Bureau (CTT) will provide a commemorative postmarking service at a temporary counter of the General Post Office in Largo do Senado. Commemorative envelopes to mark the anniversary will also be available for purchase, at four patacas each.
The statement also noted that the Municipal Affairs Bureau (IAM) is holding its “Winter Flower Show 2023” near the Taipa Houses complex until December 31.
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 on 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 claims of sovereignty over the national territory. Consequently, on December 20, 1999 the PRC resumed the exercise of sovereignty over Macau.
