Ren Zhongping, People’s Daily
Macao has ushered in a whole new chapter at the dawn of the new millennium as it returned to China on Dec. 20, 1999.
During the past 20 years, the Special Administrative Region (SAR) has witnessed rapid economic growth, continuous improvement in people’s livelihood, as well as long-term social stability and harmony, thanks to its successful practice of the “one country, two systems” policy.
Before its return to the motherland, Macao had experienced negative economic growth for four years in a row. In 1999, the region was visited by less than 8 million foreign tourists and its unemployment rate hit 6.4 percent.
Over the past two decades since its return to China, Macao has bid a farewell to the old days and embraced an upward trajectory of development. The SAR managed to increase its regional GDP from 51.9 billion patacas (about $6.47 billion) in 1999 to 444.7 billion patacas in 2018, with its per capita GDP ranking among the best in the world. Last year, the number of Macao’s inbound tourists amounted to more than 35.8 million.
According to 2019 Index of Economic Freedom, a report jointly released this January by U.S. think tank Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal, Macao’s economy was ranked the 34th freest among 180 economies in the world, and 9th in 43 economies in the Asia-Pacific region, becoming one of the world’s most vibrant micro economies.
Thanks to the initial success of Macao’s diversified economic development, lottery, tourism, convention and exhibition, catering, hotel, and retail industries in the region are thriving.
Twenty years of social harmony and stability in Macao since its return to the motherland is like a constantly unrolling picture scroll depicting lasting peace, stability, and continuous improvement in people’s livelihood.
Today’s Macao boasts harmonious and peaceful atmosphere, but it is unimaginable that the region was in a totally different situation before it returned to China.
Since 1999, the Chinese central government offered firm support for the Macao SAR government in the latter’s endeavor to fight crimes, and the numbers of murders and arsons in Macao dropped 72 percent and 40 percent respectively from a year before.
The sense of gain, happiness, and security of Macao citizens comes from not only better public security.
During the past ten years, the Macao SAR government has rolled out a series of welfare policies, such as the 15-year free compulsory education covering kindergarten, primary and secondary education and the Wealth Partaking Scheme through which the government hands out subsidies to its permanent residents.
Senior citizens, infants, primary and secondary school students, and pregnant women in Macao are all included in the region’s free medical service system. In addition, the Macao SAR government has launched an interest-free business start-up loan program for young people.
Macao SAR government is turning its citizens’ aspirations for a society into reality where everyone has a home, every patient gets medical care, all senior citizens are well supported, and every child has access to education.
Over the past twenty years, Chinese central government has unswervingly implemented the policies of “one country, two systems” and “the people of Macao governing Macao”, and realized a high degree of autonomy in the region.
Meanwhile, the central government has always regarded the long-term prosperity and stability in Macao as a focus and ultimate goal of its efforts while dealing with Macao-related affairs.
Moreover, Chinese central government has spared no effort to support the chief executive of Macao SAR and the Macao SAR government in governing in accordance with the law and developing economy, improving people’s livelihood, and promoting democracy in the region.
Driving from the Macao Peninsula through the Sai Van Bridge towards Macao’s Taipa Island, one can see different views at the two sides of the path. While lunxry hotels stand in great numbers on the east side, construction projects on the west side of the road are in full swing.
Macao citizens would always point to the west side and say proudly “that’s our hopes for the future”.
The land where Macao citizens place high hopes on is Hengqin New Area in Zhuhai, south China’s Guangdong province. Hengqin New Area, Macao’s neighbor separated by a river, is three times the size of Macao.
With a new campus of the University of Macau built on the Hengqin Island, more than 2,000 Macao enterprises registered in the area, the seamless integration of rail traffic between the two sides, and completely open channels of cooperation for the area and Macao SAR, Hengqin New Area has become a convenient access to the diversified development of Macao, and served as an active platform for innovative practice of the “one country, two systems” principle.
Today, China’s Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hong Kong and Macao are among the brightest areas on satellite images of the world at night.
Macao plays a significant role in the development plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, an important growth pole in China’s regional development strategy being put into practice step by step.
Macao, an important location on the historic Maritime Silk Road, is bound to embrace sound development in the construction of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road.
In Macao, temples and churches can be close neighbors, and traditional cultural sites and entertainment venues coexist in harmony. In fact, it is exactly the convergence of traditional culture and modern lifestyles, as well as the combination of bustling streets and quiet valleys in the region that make Macao distinctive.
After Macao’s return to the motherland, it was designated as a Creative City of Gastronomy by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and the Historic Centre of Macao was included on the UNESCO World Heritage List as a cultural site.
In 2016, Macao formulated its medium and long-term development plan for the first time after its return to China, realizing full integration into the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020) of its motherland.
With the efforts to strengthen Macao’s roles as a global tourism and leisure centre, an economic and trade cooperation platform between China and Lusophone countries, and an exchange and cooperation base with Chinese culture as its mainstream while different cultures coexist in harmony, Macao is geared up for new development achievements.
For Macao, the “one country, two systems” principle is its greatest institutional strength; the reform and opening-up is its biggest stage; and the implementation of important national strategies, such as the joint efforts at the construction of the Belt and Road and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, is bringing it major opportunities.
The tremendous success of the “one country, two systems” policy in Macao has been reflected repeatedly in the remarks of foreign observers who said Macao is a fruitful role model of the practice of the policy, and what the world sees is the prosperity and stability Macao residents enjoy under the Basic Law of the Macao SAR.
The past twenty years since its return to the motherland has been the period when Macao enjoyed the fastest and best development in history. Looking into the future, the region with an area of over 300,000 square kilometers will witness greater glory and changes unprecedented in centuries.
让濠江莲花绽放更绚丽色彩
——写在澳门回归祖国20周年之际
任仲平
1999年12月20日零时，伴随着新千年的曙光，澳门回到祖国的怀抱，迎来了一个崭新的纪元。
1999年到2019年，澳门经济快速增长、民生持续改善、社会稳定和谐，“一国两制”在这里成功实践，“盛世莲花”向着世界绽放。
难忘回归前夕的愁云密布，澳门连续4年经济负增长，1999年入境游客不足800万人次，失业率达6.4%。20年来，回到祖国怀抱的澳门一改颓势，2018年，澳门本地生产总值已从1999年的519亿澳门元增加至4447亿澳门元，人均GDP在世界名列前茅，入境总旅客超过3580万人次。2019年发布的《全球经济自由度指数》报告显示，澳门在全球180个经济体中排名第三十四位，在亚太地区43个经济体中排名第九位，成为世界上最活跃的微型经济体之一。经济适度多元发展初见成效，博彩、旅游、会展、餐饮、酒店及零售业欣欣向荣。
20年和谐稳定，安定祥和的民生画卷不断铺展。今天的澳门，洋溢着一片祥和的氛围，但谁能想到在回归之前，这里曾是截然不同的景象？回归之后，特区政府在中央政府支持下打击犯罪，一年时间就让凶杀案件减少了72%，纵火案件减少了40%。获得感、幸福感、安全感不仅来自治安改善。一份《澳门这十年》的民生工作总结中，介绍了一个普通澳门人家的“民生礼包”：从幼儿园至高中的15年免费教育，看得到“真金白银”的现金分享计划，长者、婴幼儿、中小学生、孕妇纳入免费医疗，青年创业获得免息贷款……居者有其屋、病者有其医、老者有其养、少者有其学，特区政府施政所向让澳门居民所需所盼成为现实。
20年来，中央政府坚定不移贯彻“一国两制”、“澳人治澳”、高度自治的方针，始终把保持澳门长期繁荣稳定作为处理涉澳事务的出发点和落脚点，全力支持特别行政区行政长官和特区政府依法施政，全力支持特别行政区发展经济、改善民生、推进民主。
从澳门半岛经西湾大桥往氹仔行驶，道路两侧呈现不同景象：东边，豪华酒店鳞次栉比；西边，建筑工地热火朝天。澳门同胞会指着西边自豪地说：“那是澳门未来的希望所在。”
这片被寄托厚望的土地，就是与澳门一河之隔的珠海横琴新区，面积是澳门的三倍。从澳门大学落户到2000多家澳资企业注册，从两地轨道交通在口岸无缝对接到彻底打通横琴与澳门合作的通道，这里已经成为澳门产业多元化发展的近水楼台，担当起“一国两制”创新实践的活跃平台。
今天，在世界夜景的卫星图上，从广州到深圳再到香港、澳门，是灯光最璀璨的区域之一。粤港澳大湾区的画卷正在展开，成为中国国家区域发展战略中的重要一极，澳门在其中的位置举足轻重。作为历史上海上丝绸之路的重要节点，澳门也必将在21世纪海上丝绸之路建设中大有可为。
在澳门，哪吒庙与大三巴比邻、妈祖庙与娱乐场共存，传统与现代、热闹与宁静，交织出澳门的五光十色，也塑造了澳门的独特风情。回归以来，“澳门历史城区”被列入世界文化遗产名录，澳门获评“创意城市美食之都”。2016年，澳门回归之后首次编制中长期发展规划，与国家“十三五”规划实现“无缝对接”。世界旅游休闲中心、中国与葡语国家商贸合作服务平台、以中华文化为主流多元文化共存的交流合作基地建设……面向未来，新时代新澳门新发展的集结号已经吹响。
对澳门来说，“一国两制”是最大的优势，国家改革开放是最大的舞台，共建“一带一路”、粤港澳大湾区建设等国家战略实施是新的重大机遇。“澳门是‘一国两制’制度卓有成效的榜样”“世界看到的是基本法保障下澳门居民享有的繁荣和稳定”……这些来自外国观察家的判断，印证着“一国两制”在澳门的巨大成功。回归20年，是澳门历史上发展最快最好的时期，30多平方公里土地上正发生着数百年来最辉煌的巨变。
