by Portuguese Prime Minister, António Costa, is expected to be present in Macau for the 20th handover anniversary celebrations in December, but with confirmation still pending on the evolution of the social unrest taking place in Hong Kong, newspaper Ponto Final reported.
Upon his visit to the city in May, Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa had hinted he could maybe return to the city in December – with President Xi Jinping expected to be present for the occasion – but it was now revealed it will be Costa instead to make the trip.
However, an official announcement is expected only in the next weeks with the Portuguese general elections to take place on October 6 – although Costa’s Socialist Party (PS) is expected to win by a large margin – and with the on-going public protests in Hong Kong to also possibly impact the decision to have or not the trip to Macau.
In a recent interview with Portuguese newspaper Expresso, Costa indicated that the Portuguese government hoped the situation in Hong Kong would stabilized “as quickly as possible while respecting fundamental rights”, noting that the historic relations between Portugal and China, did not mean there could not be fundamental disagreements concerning issues such as human rights.
Costa also expressed he did not believe Portuguese nationals residing in Macau had no reason so far to fear similar issues in the SAR.
Meanwhile, the Portuguese Secretary of State for European Affairs, Ana Paula Zacarias, told Lusa that the European Union (EU) was following Hong Kong situation closely with special attention, and hoping that the unrest would not ‘spill-over’ to Macau.
It was previously reported that the unrest in Hong Kong – which has lasted for about three months could lead to President Xi to also cancel his state visit to Macau in December.
