Macau Liaison Office

The Macau Liaison Office, officially known as the Central People's Government Liaison Office in the Macao Special Administrative Region (Chinese: 中央人民政府駐澳門特別行政區聯絡辦公室 (abbreviated: Chinese: 聯絡辦公室); Portuguese: Gabinete de Ligação do Governo Central na RAEM) is the representative office of the State Council of the People's Republic of China (CPG) in Macau.[1] Its counterpart body in Mainland China is the Office of the Macau Special Administrative Region in Beijing.It is one of the three agencies of the Central People's Government in the Macao Special Administrative Region. The other two are the Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China in the Macao Special Administrative Region and the People's Liberation Army Macau Garrison.

Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Macao Special Administrative Region
中央人民政府駐澳門特別行政區聯絡辦公室
Gabinete de Ligação do Governo Central na Região Administrativa Especial de Macau
Agency overview
Formed18 January 2000
Preceding agency
Jurisdiction Macau
Agency executive
Websitezlb.gov.cn (in Chinese)

The building of the Macau Liaiso Office is a threat to one of the Macao world heritage sites Guia Lighthouse since 2007.

History

The office was established on January 18, 2000. This superseded the former branch of the Xinhua News Agency. The office is located in Xinhua Building; located in the southern foothills of the Guia Hill. The new building opened on January 16, 2010 at Freguesia da Sé.[2]

When Macau was under Portuguese administration, the People's Republic of China was unofficially represented by the Nanguang trading company.[3] This later became known as China Central Enterprise Nam Kwong (Group).[4] Established in 1949, officially to promote trade ties between Macau and mainland China, it operated as the unofficial representative and "shadow government" of the People's Republic in relation to the Portuguese administration.[5]

It also served to challenge the rival "Special Commissariat of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of China" in the territory, which represented the Kuomintang government on Taiwan.[5] This was closed after the pro-Communist 12-3 incident in 1966, after which the Portuguese authorities agreed to ban all Kuomintang activities in Macau.[6] Following the Carnation Revolution, Portugal redefined Macau as a "Chinese territory under Portuguese administration" in 1976.[7] However, Lisbon did not establish diplomatic relations with Beijing until 1979.[8]

In 1984, Nam Kwong was split into political and trading arms.[9] On 21 September 1987, a Macau branch of Xinhua News Agency was established which, as in Hong Kong, became Beijing's unofficial representative, replacing Nam Kwong.[10] On 18 January 2000, a month after the transfer of sovereignty over Macau, the Macau branch became the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Macau Special Administrative Region.[11]

Headquarters building controversy
The view of Guia Fortress (center of the picture) is blocked by the headquarter.
November, 2017
November, 2018

In 2007, local residents of Macao wrote a letter to UNESCO complaining about construction projects around world heritage Guia Lighthouse (Focal height 108 meters), including the headquarter of the Liaison Office (91 meters). UNESCO then issued a warning to the Macau government, which led former Chief Executive Edmund Ho to sign a notice regulating height restrictions on buildings around the site.[12]

In 2015, the New Macau Association submitted a report to UNESCO claiming that the government had failed to protect Macao's cultural heritage against threats by urban development projects. One of the main examples of the report is that the headquarter of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government, which is located on the Guia foothill and obstructs the view of the Guia Fortress (one of the world heritages symbols of Macao). One year later, Roni Amelan, a spokesman from UNESCO Press service, said that the UNESCO has asked China for information and is still waiting for a reply. [13][12]

In 2016, the Macau government approved an 81-meter construction limit for the residential project, which reportedly goes against the city’s regulations on the height of buildings around world heritage site Guia Lighthouse.[12]

Professor at Stanford University Dr. Ming K.Chan (Chinese: 陳明銶) and professor at University of Macau Dr. Eilo Yu (Chinese: 余永逸) commented the Guia Lighthouse case proved that the Macao government had ignored the conservation of heritage in urban planning.[14]

Administration

See also

References
  1. "中央人民政府驻澳门特别行政区联络办公室_百度百科". Baidu.com.
  2. "图文：中央人民政府驻澳门联络办公室降半旗_新闻中心_新浪网". News.sina.com.cn. Retrieved 24 October 2018.
  3. Portuguese behavior towards the political transition and the regional integration of Macau in the Pearl River Region, Moisés Silva Fernandes, in Macau and Its Neighbours in Transition, Rufino Ramos, José Rocha Dinis, D.Y.Yuan, Rex Wilson, University of Macau, Macau Foundation, 1997, page 48
  4. NAM KWONG (GROUP) COMPANY LIMITED, China Daily, 22 September, 1988
  5. Macao in Sino-Portuguese Relations, Moisés Silva Fernandes, in Portuguese Studies Review, Vol. 16, No. 1, 2009, page 155
  6. Macao Locals Favor Portuguese Rule, Sam Cohen, The Observer in Sarasota Herald-Tribune, June 2, 1974, page 4H
  7. Lisbon Seen in 1999 Macao Shift, New York Times, 8 January 1987
  8. Sino-Portugal relations Archived 2004-12-11 at the Wayback Machine, Xinhua 24 August 2004
  9. Naked Tropics: Essays on Empire and Other Rogues, Kenneth Maxwell, Psychology Press, 2003, page 280
  10. Asia Yearbook, Far Eastern Economic Review, 1988
  11. Renamed Xinhua becomes a new force in Hong Kong's politics, Taipei Times, 21 January 2000
  12. "New Macau alerts UN to construction project near lighthouse". Macau Daily Times. November 8, 2016.
  13. Meneses, J. (2016). The Victory of Heritage. Macau Business, July 2016, pp.72-73.
  14. YU, Eilo W.Y.; CHAN, Ming K. (2014). China's Macao Transformed: Challenge and Development in the 21st Century. City University of HK Press. p. 316. ISBN 978-9629372071.
  15. Former and present CE highlight political reform Archived 2016-02-01 at the Wayback Machine, Macau Daily Times, 22 March 2012
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