The United States wants to maintain the continuity of the relationship between the people of the US and Macao after Macao's return to China, especially in expanding the bilateral commerce, US Consul General for Hong Kong and Macao Michael Klosson said in a recent interview.

"We would like to see that the practice of `One Country, Two Systems` will move in the positive direction in Macao as in Hong Kong," Klosson said on the eve of Macao's return to China.

Klosson, who took his current post in August this year, is looking forward to attending the handover ceremony around the midnight of December 19, along with two other US official representatives.

"This is part of history," Klosson told Xinhua in the interview.

The 50-year-old consul-general, a career Foreign Service officer with 24 years of experience in East Asia, Europe and senior US State Department positions, thought Hong Kong's situation after its return to the motherland indicates a bright prospect of Macao.

"Many people were concerned about Hong Kong's future prior to its return on July 1, 1997, but I am glad to find the anxieties and fears were not borne out," said Klosson.

"People see `One Country, Two Systems` implemented fairly smoothly in Hong Kong and Hong Kong people running Hong Kong, excluding foreign and defense affairs," he said.

"It seems to me that the people in Macao don't have the same fears that characterized many Hong Kong people's attitude leading up to July 1,1997. The fact that things have gone in the positive direction in Hong Kong has probably comforted people in Macao," Klosson said.

Klosson, having met with Edmund Ho Hau Wah, chief executive- designate of the Macao Special Administrative Region (MSAR), showed confidence in the leadership of the MSAR government, saying "the United States is certainly hopeful that with the strong leadership on the part of Ho, who has clear objectives to accomplish, the legislative assembly and government of the MSAR, Macao will see a positive evolution."

Klosson said that the US has been trying to develop trade with Macao and will continue that after its return to China.

At a reception held in Macao on September 22, 1999, Klosson said that the US currently receives nearly half of Macao's exports and hopes to continue to serve as an important market for Macao exporters, but is also eager to expand US trade in Macao.

Klosson, who paid several visits to Macao in 1971-72 when he was a young professor in Hong Kong, described Macao as a meeting place between the East and West with a long history and fascinating blend of cultures which attract more and more Americans.

"Many more Americans have heard of Hong Kong than Macao, but more people will know about Macao after this weekend with a lot of attention to be paid to Macao's return to China," Klosson said. (Xinhua)