MACAU: HANDOVER TO CHINA (V)

(20 Dec 1999) Voice and effects
VOICED BY: Louise Bates
The Chinese People's Liberation Army received a warm welcome on Monday as it drove over the border and through the streets of Macau, the former Portuguese colony handed back to China on Sunday.
Huge jubilant crowds lined the streets to watch the arrival of the soldiers.
Many in Macau hope the military will bring an end to the gangland violence which has shaken the enclave in recent years.
The handover has brought the Chinese government closer to unifying the country of 1.2 (b) billion people - a goal that has defined the great Chinese dynasties but has eluded the communist government since it took power 50 years ago.
VOICE-OVER:
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The sun shone brightly as China re-asserted its control over the territory it lost centuries ago to the Portuguese.
Impeccably turned out in their green uniforms and white gloves, some five hundred troops from the People's Liberation Army rumbled across the border into Macau.
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Many people hope that Beijing will bring an end to the Triad gang violence that feeds off the gambling industry and that is forever on the increase.
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The end of almost four-and-a-half centuries of Portuguese rule was reason enough to celebrate.
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The former territory is now officially called the Macau Special Administrative Region, and will enjoy a degree of self-rule for the next 50 years.
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Many residents took to the streets to celebrate the handover.
Others were just content to witness history in the making.
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SOUNDBITE: (English)
"I think for a lot of people probably it's not very emotional but we'll see after 50 years or so."
SUPER CAPTION: Macau Resident
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But China's still missing one piece of real estate.
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Taiwan is still very much on the mind of President Jiang Zemin.
Again he warned Taiwan against any effort to declare formal independence.
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Instead he urged the breakaway province to reunify under the same 'one country, two systems' formula.
A system that's allowed first Hong Kong - and now Macau - to keep their own capitalist systems within Communist Party-ruled China.
1.40 VISION ENDS

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