Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-02-14-Speech-3-332"
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"en.20010214.10.3-332"2
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"Mr President, I would like to commend the rapporteur on his excellent report. As Parliament's rapporteur on Hong Kong, the current status of the Macau Special Administrative Region holds obvious interest to me, and I have been fortunate enough to visit the region twice within the last year.
On the positive side, Macau's economy has progressed significantly since the handover, enjoying a 4% growth in GDP during the year 2000. Another positive development is Edmond Ho Hau-Wah's stated intention of breaking up the casino monopoly and aiming to create an Asian equivalent of Atlantic City. I welcome the fact that Macau's crime rate has also improved. Statistics show that the overall drop in crime is around 5% and that the police have significantly reduced gang-related crime involving the gambling industry.
On the negative side the unemployment rate has reached 7% causing unrest among workers. Their fears and uncertainties have been compounded because of their belief that immigrants will pose a threat to future employment. Macau does boast a sound education system but its economic dependence on gambling and textiles, and its failure to attract high-tech industries do not augur well for the future employment prospects of the young population.
Other worrying developments are the claims of police brutality made by Falangong practitioners who were refused entry to Macau during the visit of President Jiang and who were also denied the right to protest against the government's crackdown on the group. Furthermore, President Jiang's plea to Macau's government not to allow criticism of Beijing raises fundamental questions about the Chinese Government's commitment to allow freedom of expression which is fundamental to the success of the one-country two-systems policy.
Overall, progress has been made since the handover and that progress can be described as satisfactory. However, it is imperative, as also with Hong Kong, to continue monitoring to ensure that there is no erosion of democracy, human rights and freedoms.
I can assure the last speaker that this is not simply an issue of interest to the Portuguese. It is an issue of interest, not only to the European Union, but to the world and those who want to see Macau and Hong Kong progress, so that basic freedoms are guaranteed and are not eroded by the country to which they have been handed back."@en1
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