The Macau Special Administrative Region (MSAR) government “resolutely” opposes the authorities of the Taiwan region “distorting facts and maliciously defaming” Macau concerning staff rotation of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in Macau.
The Macau Government Information Bureau (GCS) made the remarks in a statement on Friday, after Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), according to a news report by Taiwan’s Central News Agency (CNA), said earlier last week that an official had been unable to obtain a permit from the local government to enter Macau to work at the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office after refusing to sign a paper confirming his or her commitment to recognising the one-China principle.
According to last week’s CNA report, MAC officials said last week that an official who had been posted to Macau’s Taipei Economic and Cultural Office for over 10 years returned to Taiwan last month and that an official slated to succeed him had been unable to obtain a permit from the Macau government after refusing to sign the one-China-principle commitment paper.
Friday’s GCS statement noted that according to the Basic Law of the Macau Special Administrative Region (MSAR) of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), and the Basic Principles and Policies of the Central People’s Government in Handling Taiwan-related Issues in Macau After 1999, Taiwan’s institutions in Macau and their personnel must comply with the one-China principle.
Consequently, the statement said, it is “completely legitimate and reasonable” for the MSAR government to require all those posted to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Macau to sign a paper confirming their commitment to recognising the one-China principle.
The GCS statement slammed the Taiwan authorities for “distorting facts and smearing and attacking [Macau], highlighting its malicious dramatisation out of political motives”, seriously damaging the relationship between Macau and Taiwan.
The statement underlined that the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office’s current personnel issue is the result of the Taiwan authorities’ “stubborn insistence and irresponsibility” and that “all the consequences arising therefrom must be borne” by the Taiwan authorities.
According to last week’s CNA report, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office, in its organisational structure, has eight officials posted from Taiwan’s various government agencies, but after a number of officials had returned to Taiwan, only two officials were still working at the office, which also employs 14 Macau residents, the report said.
Pedestrians walk past Government Headquarters on Avenida da Praia Grande in Nam Van last week. – Photo: Tony Wong
