U.S: No improvement in political reform in Macau

The U.S. Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) said the Special Administrative Region had made no improvement in establishing a universal suffrage election for the city, urging the local government to increase its support for democratic reform.
‘Although Macau’s Basic Law does not mention ‘universal suffrage,’ it ensures the applicability of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) in Macau. During the Commission’s 2015 reporting year, Macau did not make progress towards ‘an electoral system based on universal and equal suffrage . . .’ in line with the ICCPR,’ the American Commission wrote in its 2015 Annual Report released last week.
In the report, the U.S. Commission highlighted that local society activists were pressured by the Macau and Chinese governments. ‘Civil society activists in Macau reported intimidation from the Macau and Chinese governments meant to pressure activists to ‘tone down’ their activities, reportedly because of fear of pro-democratic unrest in Hong Kong spreading to Macau,’ it wrote.
In addition, it said the Macau Government’s banning of Hong Kong pro-democrats and journalists from entering the territory last year was ‘for political reasons’.
‘[We] urge Macau authorities to set a clear timeline for transition to universal suffrage in executive and legislative elections, as required by Article 25 of the ICCPR and as repeatedly urged by the UN Human Rights Committee,’ CECC said.
The U.S. Commission also voiced its concerns about the Macau Government detaining and facilitating the return of a fugitive corruption suspect from the city to Guagndong Province in China in July this year.
‘Some of Macau’s legal experts criticised Macau authorities, referring to two previous rulings from Macau’s highest court holding that due to the lack of an extradition agreement between Macau and Mainland China, Macau authorities were not permitted to detain individuals wanted for extradition to Mainland China.’ it said.
Meanwhile, the local government said in a press release yesterday that the accusations of the U.S. department in the report were ‘ignoring facts’.
‘The Macau SAR Government strongly opposes such groundless accusations.
The Macao SAR is an inalienable part of the People’s Republic of China and the United States of America has no right to interfere in China’s domestic affairs,’ the government stated.