Foreign relations of Macau

Under the Basic Law, Macau's diplomatic relations and defence are the responsibility of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Except diplomatic relations and defence, nonetheless, Macau has retained considerable autonomy in all aspects, including economic and commercial relations, customs control.

Politics and government of Macau
Basic Law
Government
Chief Executive
Ho Iat Seng
Executive Council of Macau
Principal Offices
Sec. for Administration & Justice
Sec. for Economy & Finance
Sec. for Security
Sec. for Social Affairs & Culture
Sec. for Transport & Public Works
Commission Against Corruption
Commission of Audit
Procurator General
Commissioner General of the Police Services
Director General of the Customs
Legislative Assembly
President · Vice President
Members of the Legislative Assembly
Directly elected members
Indirectly elected members
Appointed members
Political parties
Court of Final Appeal
Elections
Foreign relations
Other Macau topics

According to Chapter VII of Macau's basic law, Macau may, on its own, using the name Macau, China or Macao, China, maintain and develop relations and conclude and implement agreements with foreign states and regions and relevant international organisations in the appropriate fields, including the economic, trade, financial and monetary, shipping, communications, tourism, cultural, science and technology, and sports fields. In addition, Macau can participate in international organizations and conferences not limited to states.Macau plays an active role in such international organisations as World Trade Organization (WTO) and the Asia/Pacific Group on Money Laundering (APG) in its own right under the name of Macau, China.

The Macau government has maintained Macau Economic and Trade Representative Offices in Lisbon, Portugal and Brussels, Belgium,etc.

Delegations outside Macau
  Countries hosting an office
  European Union, members not hosting an individual office
Delegação Económica e Comercial de Macau, em Lisboa,Portugal
MOETO in Belgium, on the Avenue Louise, 326, 6. ème étage
Delegação da Região Administrativa Especial de Macau em Pequim


  • Macao Economic and Cultural Representative Office/Macao Government Tourism Office (Overseas)
country / region location Address/Official website link
 Mainland China Beijing
 Australia Sydney [Level 17, Town Hall House, 456 Kent Street, Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia]
 New Zealand Campbells Bay [7 Centennial Place, Campbells Bay, Auckland 0630, New Zealand]
 Belgium（  European Union） Brussels [Avenue Louise, 326, 6. ème étage – Blue Tower, 1050 Bruxelles, Belgique]
 United Kingdom London [25 North Row, London W1K 6DJ, United Kingdom]
Oxford [1st Floor, Chester House, 21-27 George Street, Oxford OX1 2AU, United Kingdom]
  Switzerland Genève WTO
 Japan Tokyo Japan
 South Korea Seoul Korea
 Thailand Bangkok
 Malaysia Kuala Lumpur
 India Mumbai [9th Floor, Tower A, Urmi Estate, 95, Ganpatrao Kadam Marg, Lower Parel (W), Mumbai 400013, India]
New Delhi 707, 7th Floor, Prakash Deep Building, 7 Tolstoy Marg, Connaught Place, New Delhi, 110001, India
 Indonesia Jakarta
 Russia Moscow
 Hong Kong Hong Kong, China [Flat 3, 7/F, Charm Centre, No. 700 Castle Peak Road, Cheung Sha Wan, Kowloon, Hong

Kong]

 Taiwan Taiwan, China
 United States California
New York
 Portugal Lisbon

International agreements

According to the Basic Law，the Macao Special Administrative Region of PRC may individually sign bilateral agreements with relevant countries and regions in appropriate fields such as economy, trade, finance, shipping, communications, tourism, culture, science and technology, and sports, in the name of "Macao, China".

  • Negotiation

By the end of 2018, Macau has negotiated civil aviation agreements with 46 countries and regions including the Czech Republic and the United Kingdom. Macau negotiates judicial assistance agreements with 11 countries and regions including Portugal and East Timor. Macau negotiates investment protection agreements with 3 countries and regions including Portugal and the Netherlands. Macau negotiates tax information exchange or double taxation agreements with 42 countries including the United Kingdom and Japan.

  • Sign

Macau has signed flight agreements with 19 countries and regions including Pakistan and Japan. Macau has signed judicial assistance agreements with five countries including Portugal, East Timor, Cape Verde, Mongolia, and Nigeria. Macau signed investment protection agreements with Portugal and the Netherlands. Macao has signed tax information exchange or double taxation agreements with 24 countries including Denmark and Australia.

Trade Agreement

International organization participation
Flag of Macao, China in the Olympic Asian Games


Note

  • Membership in 17 intergovernmental international organizations or their affiliated institutions
  • Participate in 71 intergovernmental international organizations or their affiliated institutions as observers



Macao chief executive Fernando Chui in the Boao Forum for Asia
Fernando Chui attended the Traditional Medicine International Development Forum in Portugal
Fernando Chui at Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation

Overseas visits made by senior officials
Edmund Ho and Barroso, President of the European Commission
Edmund Ho and Portuguese Prime Minister Socrates
Fernando Chui and Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong


The Chief Executive of Macao & other senior officials often make a duty visit to foreign countries. These visits usually aim to advance Macao's economic and trade relations with the foreign countries. During these visits, the Chief Executive will meet with political and business leaders. Usually, the head of state or head of government of the foreign countries will receive the Chief Executive. For example, former Chief Executive Edmund Ho,during his tenure,he met Prime Minister of Portugal Socrates,President of France Chirac,German Chancellor Schroeder,Crown Prince of Belgium Prince Philip,President of the European Commission Barroso,President of Brazil Lula,Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Hsien Loong,Prime Minister of Thailand Surayud Chulanon,Prime Minister of Malaysia Abdullah Ahmed Badawi,Vice President of Myanmar Myint Swe

Overseas representation in Macau
See also: Consular missions in Macau
Consulate General of Portugal in Macau

There are 15 consulate offices in Macau. From 1557 to 1999, the  United States,  Brazil and other countries opened consulates in Macau, which were later closed.  South Korea had a consulate general in Macau from July 28, 1984 to July 1, 2001, which was later closed and the South Korean consulate in Hong Kong was also responsible for Macao-related affairs.

The following countries have consulates in Macau

Officially accredited representative office in Macau

  • United Nations University
  • Typhoon Committee（It is an intergovernmental organization co-chaired by the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific ESCAP and the World Meteorological Organization WMO）

Bilateral relations

Macau relations with Lusophone countries

Given the language, culture and intimate relationships, Macau has been communicating with the Portuguese-speaking countries through various channels for a long time. This can be reflected in the International Commercial Conference for Portuguese-speaking countries , which is held in Macau annually. Macau Trade and Investment Promotion Institute (IPIM) has a lot of co-operation protocols with the relevant organizations and commercial associations in Brazil and Mozambique. The organizations include the Portuguese Commercial Association in Macau, Portuguese Business Centre in Asia, Forum dos Empresarios de Lingua Portuguesa, Câmara de Comércio e Industria Luso-Chinesa, Portuguese Business Association and Portuguese Trade Commission.

In order to strengthen the economic co-operation and development between Chinese- and Portuguese-speaking countries and improve the international status of Macau SAR, the first "Economic Co-operation Forum between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries" was held by the Central Government of the People's Republic of China with the Macau SAR Government being the event coordinator. It is mainly for the economic co-operation and development of the both sides and is non-political. The "Economic Co-operation Forum between Chinese and Portuguese-speaking Countries" will be held every three years and the first was in Macau in October 2003.

  • Forum for Economic & Trade Cooperation between China and Lusophone Countries

Founded in 1999, the Macau SAR government was determined, with the great supports from the Central Government, to host the "Forum for Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries" in October 2003. Serving as a platform between China and Portuguese-speaking countries, Macau takes it as an important mission to enhance the friendship and cooperation between the both parties.


  • Lusofonia Games 2006

The Association of the Portuguese Speaking Olympic Committees (ACOLOP) was established on 8 June 2004 in Lisbon with the aim to reinforce unity and cooperation of its members, which was already approved by the National Olympic Committees (NOCs).

Macau was honored and proud to host the 1st Lusofonia Games (7–15 October 2006) in the capacity as a founding member. The Lusofonia Games are a good opportunity to show the historical relations between Macau and Lusophone countries. They not only reinforce friendship between the other member countries, but strengthen Macau's developing sport tourism industry.

National Olympic Committee's (NOC's) Participants:

Angola

Brazil

Cape Verde

Guinea-Bissau

India (Associate member)

Macau

Mozambique

Portugal

East Timor

Sri Lanka (Associate member)

São Tomé and Príncipe

Equatorial Guinea (Associate member)

Macau relations with EU

Macau-EU relations are based on a Trade and Co-operation Agreement concluded on 14 December 1992, which came into effect on 1 January 1993. This agreement covers trade and industrial, scientific and technical co-operation. A Joint Committee meets annually to oversee the operation of the Agreement and devises ways of developing trade and co-operation. The agreement remained in force as usual after 20 December 1999.

The Commission's 1998 Communication "Building a Comprehensive Partnership with China" stated that EU policy was to support Macau's high degree of autonomy. This policy stems naturally from the EU's strong economic links and historical ties with Macau.

On 12 November 1999 the Commission adopted a Communication to the Council and the European Parliament, entitled "The EU and Macau: Beyond 2000". In this communication the EU considers that the respect for the principles set out in the basic law of Macau and the full implementation of the concept "one country, two systems" guarantee the specific social, economic and cultural identity of Macau. The Commission committed itself to monitor the situation in the territory by issuing annual reports.

The Macau SAR has an Economic and Trade Office (METO) accredited to the European Union, which ensures a regular dialogue between the EU and Macau on areas under the new SAR's responsibility, such as trade, economic relations and co-operation.

On 15 March 2001 the Council of the European Union adopted a new visa regulation and the EU granted visa-free access to Macau SAR passport-holders as from 10 April 2001.

An EC-Macau re-admission agreement was finalized and initialled on the occasion of the 9th EC-Macau Joint Committee in Brussels, Belgium on 18 October 2002. It was signed on 13 October 2003 in Luxembourg by Commissioner Chris Patten and the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs Franco Frattini on behalf of the EC, and by Florinda Chan, Secretary for Administration and Justice, on behalf of Macau. The EU-Macau Cooperation in the Legal Field Project was inaugurated on 3 December 2002, featuring a series of seminars and training programmes to be executed for a period of 48 months for judges, procurators, government lawyers and other legal practitioners of the Macau SAR.

Given its status as a separate customs territory as stated in the basic law, Macau continues to be treated by the EU as a separate entity for trade policy purposes. The EU was Macau's third largest trading partner and absorbed about 23% of its total exports, while 12% of Macau's imports came from the EU in 2003 (Macau trade statistics). Total bilateral trade between the EU and Macau reached €1 billion in 2002. Macau's trade surplus with the EU was €382 million (Eurostat). The EU was the third biggest investor in Macau after Hong Kong and the People's Republic of China with 25 firms investing in the SAR in 2001. Total investment stock amounted to over €400 million. Macau's membership in the World Trade Organization and liberal economic system offer favourable conditions for EU investments.

Macau relations with US
Main article: Macau–United States relations

In recognition of Macau's high degree of autonomy, the United States continues to treat Macau as a special area distinct from the People's Republic of China.

The U.S. government supports Macau's autonomy by strengthening bilateral ties through the promotion of bilateral trade and investment, law enforcement cooperation, academic and cultural links, and high-level dialogue and visits.

After the September 11 attacks, Macau officials pledged full cooperation with U.S. and global efforts against terrorism. Macau's legislature passed an anti-terrorism law in April 2002 that includes provisions that are consistent with the requirements of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1373.

Macau's clothes and textiles continued to enter the United States under quotas separate from those of China. Under the terms of a September 2000 bilateral Memorandum of Understanding, Macau and the US government cooperate in enforcing textile quotas and preventing illegal trans-shipment. The US continued periodic visits by U.S. Customs Textile Production Verification Teams to ensure compliance with Macau bilateral textile commitments.

The protection of intellectual property rights remains a priority issue on the U.S.-Macau bilateral economic agenda. Macau progress since 1999 in strengthening IPR laws, tightening controls over DVD and VCD manufacturing, and stepping up street-level IPR enforcement resulted in Macau being removed from USTR's Special 301 list in 2002. Macau's new customs service worked with U.S. industry associations and maintained high tempo operations to combat piracy .

U.S. investment in Macau, while small in the past, is expected to increase in coming years as the result of the 2002 awarding of two gaming concessions to consortia with U.S. interests. Though trade with Macau represents a small portion of U.S. trade, the United States was Macau's second largest trading partner after the People's Republic of China. U.S. exports to and imports from Macau in 2002 were US$79 million and US$1.2 billion, respectively. After the Macau government ended the 40-year-old gaming monopoly of the Sociedade de Turismo e Diversões de Macau (STDM) in February 2002, the government awarded concessions to three consortia, including two with significant U.S. investment. The restructuring of the gaming industry remains the centerpiece of Macau - efforts to improve its international reputation and become a Las Vegas-like gaming, convention, and family-oriented holiday destination. The possible new investment of US$1.5-2.5 billion in the medium term will increase jobs and income and dramatically raise the U.S. business profile in Macau.

Sister cities
See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in China

See also

References
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  2. Consulate of Mozambique opens Archived 2016-05-02 at the Wayback Machine, Macau Daily Times, October 27, 2014
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