Central People’s Government Liaison Office in Macau Director Fu Ziying said Monday that Macau has achieved “very extraordinary” achievements in its development over the past two decades since its return to the motherland in 1999.
He also described Macau as “a small city with many stories”.
Fu made the remarks while speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a Spring Festival reception yesterday. The annual reception hosted by the office took place at Macau Tower, with about 2,000 people attending, including Chief Executive Fernando Chui Sai On, Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Macau Shen Beili, People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Macau Garrison Commander Xu Liangcai, PLA Macau Garrison Political Commissar Zhou Wugang and Legislative Assembly (AL) President Ho Iat Seng, as well as senior local government officials, Executive Council members, lawmakers, foreign consuls accredited to Macau, and local community leaders.
The Chinese New Year is officially known on the mainland as the Spring Festival.
Speaking to reporters, Fu said that Macau is a place which is a small city but has many stories, adding that Macau has a rich and unique history and culture. Fu noted that he took office only a month ago so that it will still take him a long time to understand Macau more.
Fu, who was posted to Macau late last month, said that Macau has made tremendous achievements in its development since its return to the motherland about 20 years ago. Fu said that Macau has achieved substantial development in its economy, society, culture and education, adding that nowadays Macau is “very extraordinary”.
Fu stressed that what is even more exciting is that Macau will become better and better in the future.
The director of the Liaison Office is the central government’s top representative in the Macau Special Administrative Region (MSAR). The office started operating on December 20, 1999, coinciding with the establishment of the MSAR.
Fu spoke to the local media in Macau for the first time yesterday since he assumed his current position.
Fu noted that this year marks the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the MSAR while socialism with Chinese characteristics has also entered a new era, adding this means that the two sides are jointly entering a new era and, more specifically, both the mainland’s reform and opening-up and Macau’s implementation of the “One Country, Two Systems” principle have entered a new era.
In his speech during the Spring Festival reception, Fu praised the local government for earnestly fulfilling its constitutional duty by establishing the Commission on the Defence of National Security of the Macau Special Administrative Region (MSAR), which he said has further improved the city’s system and mechanism to safeguard national security.
Fu, 61, also acknowledged the local government’s efforts to promote the “moderate diversification” of Macau’s economy and to build a long-term mechanism to protect residents’ livelihood. Fu also acknowledged that the local government has improved its disaster prevention and mitigation system so that it effectively responded to Super Typhoon Mangkhut – which pummelled Macau in September last year – which he said has garnered local residents’ support.
In his speech, Fu urged the local government to develop a long-term vision for Macau to achieve better development in its integration into the overall national development, namely by not only administering the city based on the local reality, but also by combining Macau’s own development with the nation’s overall development needs.
Fu, who holds a PhD in economics, called for the local government to link Macau’s development plan with the country’s overall development strategy and to give full play to Macau’s strengths to serve the country’s needs.
Fu said that Macau needs to have a spirit of innovation and urged the city to give full play to the advantages of the “One Country, Two Systems” principle for the promotion of its deeper cooperation with the mainland, particularly in its participation in the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area (GBA).
Fu urged Macau to adopt a courageous approach to innovate, in conjunction with the mainland authorities, the system and mechanism for cooperation between the two sides, so as to jointly tackle problems such as the institutional differences between the two sides and also to achieve synergy resulting from the combination of the two sides’ advantages.
