Macau, China, Aug. 26, 2025 (Lusa) - The leader of Macau's government, Sam Hou Fai, will visit Portugal from 16 September, in his first trip abroad since taking office in December, the region's authorities announced today.
The head of the government - the first leader of the semi-autonomous territory to speak Portuguese - will visit Lisbon and Madrid between 16 and 23 September, the Press Office said in a statement.
The announcement comes weeks after the arrest on 31 July of former Macau MP and Portuguese citizen Au Kam San on suspicion of violating the Law on the Defence of State Security.
This is the first arrest under the Macau Special Administrative Region's (SAR) national security law, which came into force in 2009 and was revised in 2023.
Two days later, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told Lusa that "the matter will receive the best attention from the Portuguese authorities, starting with future meetings at a political level, in the spirit of the Joint Declaration".
The ministry led by Paulo Rangel was referring to the Sino-Portuguese treaty signed in 1987, in which the two countries declared the terms under which Beijing would take over the administration of Macau after 1999.
On the same day, the Liberal Initiative proposed to parliament a vote condemning the arrest of Au Kam San and asking the government to request clarification from the Chinese authorities.
According to the draft vote, which will be discussed in the parliamentary committee on Foreign Affairs and Portuguese Communities, parliament "cannot remain silent in the face of the arrest of a fellow citizen who has dedicated his life to the defence of freedom, nor can it ignore the degradation of the freedom regime in Macau".
Au Kam San was elected to parliament for the first time in 2001, benefiting from the extension of the number of seats provided for in the SAR Basic Law, and remained in office until 2021. During this period, he was part of Macau's Democratic wing.
In March, during a visit to Macau, Paulo Rangel told reporters that he had spoken to Sam Hou Fai about all the issues that are relevant to the relationship between Portugal and the Macau SAR when asked about the restrictions on Portuguese residency.
"But, as this is an ongoing dialogue, I have a duty to give the opportunity so that, with the issues that have been raised on both sides, we now have the space and time to build solutions," he added.
Rangel said that the "follow-up to the dialogue" started with Sam Hou Fai would take place at a meeting of the Portugal-RAEM Joint Commission, which will be organised, in principle, in the second half of the year here in Macau.
Since August 2023, Macau has not accepted new applications for Portuguese residency for the "exercise of specialised technical functions", allowing only justifications of family reunion or previous connection to the territory.
The guidelines eliminate a practice established after 1999. The alternative for Portuguese nationals to say that they are resident is to apply for the recent programmes to attract qualified staff.
Another option is to issue a “blue card”, an authorisation limited to employment, without the benefits of residency, namely in terms of health or education.
VQ/ADB // ADB.
Lusa
