Chief executive elect Ho Iat Seng speaks at a press conference in China's Macao Special Administrative Region, August 25, 2019. （Photo：Xinhua）
Roughly 20 years ago, when Hong Kong and Macao were handed back to China by Britain and Portugal respectively, the central government granted them the status of Special Administrative Region (SAR) under the principle of "One Country, Two Systems," demonstrating a high degree of executive, legislative and judicial autonomy.
While recent mass protests rocked Hong Kong over the now-fully-withdrawn fugitive bill, Macao - being an-hour ferry ride away from the financial hub - remains spared from the turmoil that has turned increasingly violent in recent weeks.
In fact, Macao's chief executive, Ho Iat Seng, who was appointed as the fifth head of the SAR government by China's central government on Wednesday, has reiterated his commitment to the principle of "One Country, Two Systems" and pledged that he would "spare no effort" to uphold it.
Experts say that Macao has been a very successful model of the formula. As famous Chinese commentator Victor Gao put it: "The improvement of the region over years speaks for itself."
Macao: An economy that grows at 10% annually
Since its return in 1999, Macao's economy has continued rocketing at an annual rate of over 10 percent, according to China's official Xinhua News Agency.
Data from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) 2018 report ranked Macao No. 2 with a 122,489-U.S.-dollar per capital GDP, just behind the oil-rich Qatar. Yet the IMF predicted that the continuing economic growth in the gaming industry hub would soon allow it to overtake Qatar. By 2020, Macao is poised to become the richest place on the planet.
If those numbers speak for anything, its neighboring Hong Kong, at roughly half of Macao's total as of 2018, was only placed on No. 10 position in the same table.
Gao, vice president of the Center for China and Globalization, said Macao's economy is dependent on the Chinese mainland, in leisure tourism, trade and other integrating mega projects.
"It is felt that maintaining close relations with the central government and with the Chinese mainland as a whole is absolutely in their interest," Gao said.
The central government had stepped onto Macao's soil when it was in chaos due to gangsters' interests in casinos ahead of its handover, Associate Professor Eilo Wing-yat Yu at the University of Macao told ABC, adding "Macao society has a relatively strong pro-Beijing sentiment that is conducive to Beijing-Macao harmony."
Macao's pro-Beijing sentiment
Back in July 2003, Macao first introduced "Individual Visit Scheme" for mainland visitors, before which they could only travel on business visa or in group tours. Since then, over 100 million Chinese mainland visitors have traveled across.
To take a step forward and integrate further with the Chinese mainland, Macao and Zhongshan, south China's Guangdong Province, initiated "Individual Yacht Visit Scheme," a sightseeing trip taking advantage of the newly built Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao bridge. This tour also builds upon the concept of "city cluster," which lays a solid groundwork for economic development for all parties involved.
This has made tourism Macao's top industry, thus promoting the region's service sectors including retail, hotels, advertisements and communications.
Since, Macao has embraced the influx of mainland tourists and investment and appreciated the efforts made by the central government over the years.
Traditional Chinese medicine entrepreneur Irene Wong King, who has just expanded her business from Macao to Zhuhai, south China's Guangdong Province, appreciated the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement signed in 2003.
"My company's raw material and final products enjoy zero tariff, plus there are many supporting facilities and policies provided by the industrial park," she told Xinhua News Agency.
Macao's message to foreign forces: 'No thank you!'
There has been an increasing evidence to suggest foreign involvement in Hong Kong unrest as demonstrators have been seen waving foreign flags, equipped with offensive weapons like petrol bombs and iron rods. Foreign interference has never been heard in Macao, which has remained at an arm's length from the teeming masses.
Away from the spotlight, active U.S. interference takes place through the National Endowment for Democracy (NED). Funded by the U.S. Department of State, the NED continues its global crusade in Hong Kong to work against any opposition that might challenge the United States' global dominance, said Keith Lamb, former regional head of IBS Software Services of Southeast Asia.
High-profile anti-Beijing activists, including Anson Chan and Jimmy Lai, have also had meetings with U.S. State Secretary Mike Pompeo, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and consulate general of the United States and the United Kingdom.
Former senior editor of The Strait Times Leslie Fong, commented in an opinion piece published in the South China Morning Post on July 27, that Hong Kong, the once-vibrant Asian economic center is now turning itself into "what seems like mass political suicide in slow motion."
"All that 'concern' (from the West) has nothing to do with freedom and democracy, and everything to do with the desire to use Hong Kong in every which way to destabilize China and contain its rise," Fong wrote.