Li: Chinese gov’t establishes body to support SAR economy

The director of the Chinese Liaison Office in Macau, Li Gang, said on Sunday that the Chinese central government had established a functional body to support the city’s economic development. The Beijing official claimed that the department would gradually introduce policies that benefit the economy of the Special Administrative Region. However, he declined to reveal the details of the body and possible policies for the city. In October, the local Liaison Office head mentioned that the central government would implement more policies to support the city’s economy, several of which were be related to the gaming industry. Remarking upon the city’s gaming revenues having dropped for 17 consecutive months, Mr. Li told reporters that he believes the Special Administrative Region would eventually overcome such economic difficulties. Jurisdiction over local waters approved In addition, he suggested that the central government would announce the approval of the city’s request for jurisdiction over local waters “in these few days”. The Beijing official told reporters on Sunday that the progress of the central government’s evaluation of the city’s application was going “very smoothly”, claiming “good news” would be announced in these few days and that society would know more details at that time. According to Mr. Li, the central government has also decided whether the waters of the Canal dos Patos, a short canal separating Zhuhai and Macau, will be managed by the Special Administrative Region or the Chinese city. The official described the decision as “reasonably distributed”. In September, the local government officially submitted its request for administrative rights over the city’s customary waters to the central government, after Chinese President Xi Jinping gave the city the go-ahead to conduct a study on the jurisdiction of its own waters during his visit to the territory for the 15th anniversary of Macau’s handover last December.