Nostalgia in Macau, warnings for Hong Kong

Today marks the 20th anniversary of Macau’s handover from Portugal to China. On this occasion, we say “saudade” — a Portuguese word meaning intense longing for something absent. But poke around, as our correspondent Eduardo Baptista did, and you’ll find a city still connected with its romanticized past.

Other news from the Greater Bay Area:

For the Communist Party’s view of Macao, see this comic strip on the history of the territory from the People’s Daily (in Chinese), or Xinhua News Agency’s wooden piece titled Xi highlights major achievements in practicing “one country, two systems” in Macao (in Chinese here).

“How murder, kidnappings and a miscalculation set off Hong Kong revolt” is the title of a Reuters report on how the Hong Kong government and their masters in Beijing screwed up so badly:

City leader Carrie Lam (林鄭月娥 Lín Zhèng Yuè’é) insists she, not Beijing, was the prime mover behind the legal proposal that ignited Hong Kong. In fact, the campaign began well before the lurid crime Lam cited to justify amending extradition laws – and it began with Chinese officials, Reuters has learned.

“China’s leader, Xí Jìnpíng 习近平,” says the New York Times (porous paywall), “praised the Chinese gambling hub of Macau on Friday for its patriotism and delivered a veiled rebuke to nearby Hong Kong that Beijing would not allow challenges to its sovereignty or the interference of ‘external forces.’”  

President Xi Jinping may have been sending a veiled reminder to Hong Kong on Friday as he urged the new government in Macau to solve livelihood issues ranging from housing to healthcare, observers said, according to the South China Morning Post. “But Beijing’s top leaders were also aware that Hong Kong’s challenges were tougher and different from those facing the casino hub.”

“There are no plans to make patriotic education a separate subject in Hong Kong, the city’s education chief said on Friday, despite Chinese President Xi Jinping highlighting Macau’s approach to the topic during his three-day visit,” says the South China Morning Post.

—Anthony Tao