Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa will visit Macau between Tuesday and Wednesday next week (from April 30 to May 1), the local government has announced.
According to a statement by the Government Spokesperson’s Office on Saturday, Rebelo de Sousa will visit Macau during a state visit to the nation at the invitation of President Xi Jinping.
Macau is one of the Portuguese president’s stops during the state visit between this coming Sunday and Thursday next week.
The statement pointed out that Chief Executive Fernando Chui Sai On will have a formal meeting with Rebelo de Sousa and also host a reception in his guest’s honour during the visit.
According to informed Portuguese sources, Rebelo de Sousa, a legal scholar, centre-right politician and former TV commentator, will arrive from the mainland in Macau next Tuesday evening. The 70-year-old head of state of the Portuguese Republic is a former leader of the Social Democratic Party (PSD), which is currently in the opposition. He has been Portugal’s president since March 2016, serving a five-year term.
Rebelo de Sousa’s visit marks the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Lisbon and Beijing.
The Portuguese Republic and People’s Republic of China (PRC) established diplomatic ties on February 8, 1979.
Portugal ruled Macau between the mid-16th century and midnight on December 19, 1999, when the PRC resumed the exercise of sovereignty over Macau.
Portugal had unilaterally relinquished its claims of sovereignty over Macau shortly after the anti-colonialist Carnation Revolution of April 25, 1974. Consequently, Macau’s 1999 “handover” amounted to a transfer of administration.
The PRC did not recognise foreign sovereignty over any part of its national territory, such as Hong Kong and Macau.(Macaunews)
