The central government has hit back on recent Taiwanese claims that Macao is attempting to take control of the Sun Yat Sen Memorial House from its current owner, Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council, multiple local media outlets report.
Concerns about a potential seizure began to emerge after the Macao government added the historic property to its list of cultural heritage sites last month, meaning that the local authorities now have priority as a buyer should the site – reportedly worth more than 35 million patacas (US$4.2 million) – come up for sale.
“[Mainland] China wants to annex the Sun Yat Sen Memorial House in Macao,” said Chang Hung-lu, a member of Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party. “I think apart from [attaining] the property, China wants to tell the world that there is no Taiwanese government, no Republic of China under the One China system.”
Mainland Chinese authorities have denied such accusations, with the State Council’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokesperson Zhu Fenglian describing them as “groundless, conjecture and political manipulation.” She added that the SAR government’s listing of the historic site was “legal, compliant and reasonable.”
[See more: Macao has listed six new cultural heritage sites]
Macao’s Cultural Affairs Bureau also issued a statement in response to the reports, pointing out that the house was declared a cultural heritage site in order to “better protect its cultural value through legislative means.”
The bureau also stated that the property’s designation would not affect its normal operations and that granting the government priority as a buyer of such cultural heritage sites has precedence in other places including Portugal, Japan and the island of Taiwan itself.
As the former home of Sun Yat Sen, the revolutionary Chinese leader who helped to overthrow the Qing Dynasty, the memorial house is unique as it is the only place in Macao where the Republic of China flag can be legally displayed.
For its part, Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council has stated that it currently has no intention of selling the property.
