After a ballot held on 26 July, Former Social and Cultural Affairs Secretary Fernando Chui Sai-on sailed through to become Macau’s new Chief Executive -elect, the second since Macau’s return to China in 1999. Chui received 282 of 300 possible votes after gaining the support of 286 in the preliminary member nomination committee meeting. He was the only contender after chief prosecutor Ho-Chio-meng pulled just before the nominations. Chui was a favoured candidate in Beijing; he is from a powerful Macanese family and his brother is a legislator and member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. Chui has reportedly held public consultations following his appointment, possibly to mollify critics of Macau’s decidedly non-participatory system. A recently passed state security law regarding the punishment of ‘treason, secession or subversion against the Chinese government’ has underlined the limits of Macau’s autonomy from the mainland. Chui will take over from Edmund Ho in December this year.

It is hoped by many that Chui’s appointment will persuade Beijing to ease visa restrictions for Chinese mainlanders. Tourists from the mainland are the life-blood of the Macau gaming industry, the only place in China where casinos are legal. After overtaking the Las Vegas strip in earnings a few years ago, Macau’s growth has slumped in the wake of the global economic crisis. As Macau’s gaming industry plummets, contracting by almost than 13 percent in the first half of this year, a new impetus has been given to the territory’s role as a bridge between China and the Portuguese-speaking world.

Auspiciously but definitely not coincidentally, to commemorate Africa Day on 25 May, the Macau Inter-University Institute (known by its Portuguese Acronym of IIUM) launched the Centre for African Research and Development Studies (CARDS). Ivo Carneiro de Sousa, Vice-rector of IIUM for Research and International Relations lauded the launch of what he called the Asia’s ‘fourth Africa Studies Centre in Asia.’

Dismissing centres for African Studies on the Mainland, de Sousa outlined plans to participate with the other centres in Mumbai, Tokyo and Kyoto. De Sousa also cited the strategic advantage of Macau’s long-standing relations with Africa and its local African Diaspora. Furthermore, a seminar entitled Macau as a trade and cultural platform between China and the Portuguese-speaking countries” was organised by the International Institute of Macau (IIM) as part of a string of initiatives designed to bolster Macau’s image and strategic significance in this regard. As IIM Director Luis Barreto pronounced: “When Macau is no longer capable to assume this role of go-between, it will disappear. This is written in its origin, gives it strength and bestow upon it status. This is what Macau was and what it still is”.

Concurrently, the Bank of China (BOC) is also actively promoting Macau as a platform for economic and commercial co-operation between China and Portuguese-speaking countries through the Bank’s Macau branch. Macau has already hosted a conference for the central bank governors of Portuguese-speaking countries with this aim in mind. In September 2006, Banco de Fomento de Angola signed an agreement facilitating fund transfer services to Chinese nationals in Angola as well as to companies with Chinese capital in the African country. Co-operation with Portugal’s Millenium BPC and Stanley Ho and Ferro Ribeiro’s Mozambican-based Moza Banco is also on the cards. (Moza Banco has thrived since its establishment less than a year ago. The bank has an agreement with China Exim Bank and is looking to expand operations to the whole of Mozambique) According to Zhang Jianhua, President of BOC, transfer services were be extended to Brazil in July this year.

President Inácio ‘Lula’ de Silva’s May visit to Beijing was an effort to gently remind Chinese President Hu Jintao of the pledges made during the latter’s state visit to Brazil four years ago. Although more than US$ 7 billion in investment had been promised, by early 2009, less than US$ 150 million had materialised. Commercial relations have at times been strained; Chinese manufactured goods have stolen market share from Brazilian exports to its regional neighbours, while Brazil complains that exports to China have not diversified from soya, oil and iron. For its part however, Brazil has reneged on a pledge to accord China market economy status. Brazil now recognises the importance of cultivating closer ties with China and it seems Lula’s recent visit was successful. During his visit to the Chinese capital, a total of 13 new co-operation agreements were signed, including a US$ 10 billion loan from China Development Bank to Brazilian national oil-company Petrobras in return for a guaranteed supply of 200,000 barrels of oil per day for the next 10 years. No details of the other agreements were published although it is speculated that they may include a US$ 800 million loan for the Brazilian development bank, financing for ports and waterways, as well as a market for Brazilian meat and poultry exports. Lula subsequently published a glowing review of Sino-Brazilian co-operation in China Daily. Furthermore, Brazil, following in the wake of these agreements, is, for the first time ever going to hold the Forum on Economic and Trade Cooperation between China and Portuguese-speaking Countries from August 11-13 this year. China and Brazil have several successful co-operative agreements in place, such as the China-Brazil Earth Resources Satellite (CBERS) launched in 1988; it now has 3 operational satellites in place. President Lula has announced that these images will be freely provided to African countries.

In Africa, at the end of May, the China EXIM Bank announced that it would be financing the construction of the Mpanda Nkuwa Dam in Mozambique through a US$ 2.3 billion loan package. Amid marked controversy in terms of the environmental implications of such a dam, construction is to begin in 2010. Mozambique will also receive US$ 3 million in ‘military aid’ in the form of non-lethal military equipment such as uniforms, boors and transport vehicles. This was announced this May after the conclusion of the Mozambican Defence Minister Filipe Nyussi visit to Beijing where he signed an agreement with his Chinese counterparts.

* Lucy Corkin is a PhD candidate at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) and resident Macau Forum analyst for Fahamu’s China in Africa programme.
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