Jiang warns Macau, HK to curb anti-China acts
Jiang warns Macau, HK to curb anti-China acts
MACAU (AFP): Chinese President Jiang Zemin urged Macau's rulers on Wednesday to stamp out any anti-China activities in a speech marking the first anniversary of the enclave's return to Beijing's rule.
Jiang said the mainland government would not intervene in the daily running of the former Portuguese colony, but that authorities in the Macau Special Autonomous Region (SAR) should prevent acts undermining China.
The Chinese leader was speaking at a cultural gala after some 40 members of the Falungong spiritual movement, which is banned on the mainland but not in Macau, were arrested to stop them protesting during his visit.
Jiang also said his message applied to Hong Kong, which returned to Chinese rule in 1997 under the same "one country, two systems" formula allowing both former colonies a high degree of autonomy.
"The Macau SAR should take concrete measures to defend the national interests and the authority of the central government and should never allow anyone to stage any activities in Macau against the central government or to split the country," Jiang said, quoted by the official Xinhua news agency.
At least five Falungong practitioners were arrested on Tuesday in Macau, while 32 were detained at Macau's ferry port as they tried to arrive from nearby Hong Kong.
An Australian-Chinese Falungong member Kelly Hong Xu, 30, told AFP seven police officers stopped her when she arrived in Macau early on Wednesday to take part in exercises in a park by about 20 practitioners.
"After dragging me into a lift, they started punching me on my head and body," she said.
"They carried me out of the lift and forced me to board a Hong Kong-bound ferry, despite my protests that they were infringing my human rights," said Xu.
Police briefly interrupted the morning exercise in the park, asking the group to take down banners condemning Jiang for Beijing's crackdown on the sect. The exercises were then allowed to resume.
But Frank Lu, director of the Hong Kong-based Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy, said the clampdown in Macau proved China was not respecting its commitments.
"If Macau's authorities ban us from entering, then there is no such thing as 'one country, two systems,'" said Lu, who was also prevented from entering the territory.
Jiang meanwhile praised the performance of Macau's Chief Executive Edmund Ho, who was hand-picked by Beijing to run the territory, saying the economy and rampant gangland crime had been effectively tackled.
"The Macau SAR government, with the support of the central government, has dealt a heavy blow to various evil forces which has resulted in visibly improved law and order and better economic performance," he said.
The enclave on the tip of southern China had been plagued by a series of bombings and killings in the run-up to the handover as triads had battled for control of lucrative gambling and prostitution rackets.
Concerns were expressed earlier this year that cross-boundary crimes in Hong Kong, Macau and Guangdong have increased since the handover of Hong Kong in 1997 and Macau in 1999 to China.
Tight security was thrown up in Macau for Jiang's visit, although People's Liberation Army (PLA) troops which have been stationed here since the handover kept their usual low-profile.
Jiang was due to go on a walkabout later on Wednesday, visiting Macau's most famous landmark, the ruined facade of St Paul's Cathedral, as well as an old fort.
But crowds of curious onlookers who had gathered to catch a glimpse of him were shooed away by security men.
Despite fears that religious freedoms could be abandoned under Beijing's rule, Catholic leaders here have said they have continued to worship freely as during the four centuries of Portuguese rule.
Both Macau and Hong Kong theoretically enjoy broad political and judicial autonomy but human rights groups say Beijing has reneged on some pledges, in particular by overruling Hong Kong's highest court in a key immigration case.