The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) Central Economic Work Conference in Beijing at the end of last year failed to find a solution for China’s economy. Although Chinese officials claimed that the foreign trade surplus hit a record high last month, China’s and Hong Kong’s stock markets have kept tumbling this year, with the latter’s Hang Seng Index dropping below 19,000 points on Monday.
While being stuck with the downturn, there is good news for Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), who visited Macau at the end of last year to celebrate the 25th anniversary of China‘s takeover of the territory in 1999. Surprisingly, Xi stayed there for three days.
Why is Xi fond of Macau? Because Macau is so obedient that it is considered a role model of Beijing’s “one country, two systems” policy. Macau has long been a “quasi-liberated zone” with a booming gambling industry.
The new chief executive, Sam Hou Fai (岑浩輝), was born in China’s Guangdong Province, educated in China, graduated from the Law School of prestigious Peking University, and emigrated to Macau in 1986. Sam is one of the elites with Chinese experience, also known as the “13 gangsters” (13太保), trained by Beijing to rule Macau. This is why Xi was so at ease during his stay in Macau.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic came to an end, Macau’s gambling and tourism industries have recovered much more quickly than Hong Kong’s.
In contrast to Hong Kong’s fiscal deficit, Macau with its strong treasury and budget surplus has been passing money to its people for 18 consecutive years. This year, each permanent resident would be given 10,000 Macau patacas (US$1,247), while each non-permanent resident would receive 6,000 patacas.
In Macau, the Chinese president repeatedly talked about economic development and put forward a number of specific expectations, including a call for “precise positioning, focusing on key points” — which referred to the gambling industry — and cultivation of new sectors with international competitiveness.
However, Tam Yiu-chung (譚耀宗), a former Hong Kong member of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, said that it is not easy for Macau to promote economic diversity and shift away from the monopoly of its gambling industry.
Tam added that that he believed that Beijing would conduct studies on Macau’s situation, and then support Macau in implementing them.
What new industries exactly does Macau want to develop? According to the Hong Kong media’s latest report on Jan. 13, Macau’s six largest gambling enterprises are opening overseas offices one after another in a bid to attract international customers.
A week earlier, Melco Resorts & Entertainment (新濠博亞娛樂) announced that it has opened an office in Bangkok, Thailand, to keep an eye out for new opportunities and possible cooperation. It seems that the gambling industry is still the best way to go.
In terms of Hong Kong’s “one country, two systems,” the only remnant today is late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping’s (鄧小平) nine-word motto: “Horses would still run, stocks would still sizzle, and dancing would still continue” (馬照跑,股照炒,舞照跳), and the first two are related to gambling too.
As the CCP attempts to impose “one country, two systems” in Taiwan, does it want to try out the gambling industry in Taiwan’s outlying island Kinmen first?
Paul Lin is a political commentator.
Translated bv Eddy Chang
Concerns that the US might abandon Taiwan are often overstated. While US President Donald Trump’s handling of Ukraine raised unease in Taiwan, it is crucial to recognize that Taiwan is not Ukraine. Under Trump, the US views Ukraine largely as a European problem, whereas the Indo-Pacific region remains its primary geopolitical focus. Taipei holds immense strategic value for Washington and is unlikely to be treated as a bargaining chip in US-China relations. Trump’s vision of “making America great again” would be directly undermined by any move to abandon Taiwan. Despite the rhetoric of “America First,” the Trump administration understands the necessity of
US President Donald Trump’s challenge to domestic American economic-political priorities, and abroad to the global balance of power, are not a threat to the security of Taiwan. Trump’s success can go far to contain the real threat — the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) surge to hegemony — while offering expanded defensive opportunities for Taiwan. In a stunning affirmation of the CCP policy of “forceful reunification,” an obscene euphemism for the invasion of Taiwan and the destruction of its democracy, on March 13, 2024, the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) used Chinese social media platforms to show the first-time linkage of three new
If you had a vision of the future where China did not dominate the global car industry, you can kiss those dreams goodbye. That is because US President Donald Trump’s promised 25 percent tariff on auto imports takes an ax to the only bits of the emerging electric vehicle (EV) supply chain that are not already dominated by Beijing. The biggest losers when the levies take effect this week would be Japan and South Korea. They account for one-third of the cars imported into the US, and as much as two-thirds of those imported from outside North America. (Mexico and Canada, while
The military is conducting its annual Han Kuang exercises in phases. The minister of national defense recently said that this year’s scenarios would simulate defending the nation against possible actions the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) might take in an invasion of Taiwan, making the threat of a speculated Chinese invasion in 2027 a heated agenda item again. That year, also referred to as the “Davidson window,” is named after then-US Indo-Pacific Command Admiral Philip Davidson, who in 2021 warned that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had instructed the PLA to be ready to invade Taiwan by 2027. Xi in 2017