Chinese Official Says Macao SAR Operates Well

A senior Chinese official stationed Macao said Wednesday that the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) has been operating well over the past eight months since its founding.

"The SAR has shown a good beginning in the eight months and its remarkable achievements have been commended by the central government and won favorable comments from various social aspects," said Wang Qiren, director of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Macao SAR.

Wang made the remarks at a gathering of local people who organized a preparatory committee for celebrating the 51st anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.

Wang Qiren said that the administrative, legislative and judicial organs of the SAR are carrying out smooth work in accordance with the Basic Law. Macao people have taken an active part in managing their won affairs and the concept of "Macao people governing Macao" has been realized well.

He noted that public security has been improved markedly and local economy has shown signs of revival. With better discipline and more cooperation with police forces in neighboring areas, police in the SAR have succeeded in cracking a number of criminal cases.

As a result of improving security environment, the SAR attracted 4.3 million tourists in the first half of this year, an increase of 20.8 percent over the same period last year. In the meantime, export and import volumes rose by 13.8 percent and 4 percent, and the investment from outside exceeded 100 million patacas (12.5 million U.S. dollars). It is expected that the momentum of economic recovering will maintain in the latter half of this year.

With regard to foreign relations, the SAR's chief executive made official visits to France, Portugal and Singapore, which demonstrated the new outlook of the SAR and promoted economic and cultural cooperation with these areas, Wang Qiren said. The facts show that Deng Xiaoping's "one country, two systems" concept and the principles of "Macao people governing Macao" and a high degree of autonomy in Macao are rather correct, he said.



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