Oldal 3 [3]
- page three ¬
market ín the whole area.
In view of the laek in taxes, this prosperity never¬
theless :§ not, felt directly for the P rtuguese administration.
In fact L*sbon is today forced to pay Subsidies to the colony.
But while these subsidies exist, the invisible gains for Por¬
tugal are very important indeed. Despite the appearances, Por.
tugal is gaining quite a lot by iys posession of the Colony.
Tt is hard to learn exactly the number of the popula¬
tion, eince the refugee situation fluctuates a great deal. One
must therefore take an average, which would put the Chinese
population.at 378,000 people as against a European population
of 5000. But this situation is false, if we understand under
Chinese men who have a feeling of loyalty towards China. Because
the ovefwhelming majority of the population o f Macao of Chi¬
nese rece is passionately loyal to Portugal, Most of the men
of colour will reply quite naturally that they are Portuguese,
whll show neither tmterest nor sympathy for China, The Chinese
movements, which are so passionate jn Hong-Kong have here no
great importance, That. is why the P rtuguese can exercise such
absolute tolerance, letting both Re@ and Nationalist Chinese
Agents do as they pleasee No leaflets, no papers, will swayu
the loyalty of the great majority of the Macao Chinese to P et
Portugal. The Macao people kmow to well, that they live litfe¬
raliy in a Paradise today, that they can not live better
than they live today under the Pertuguese Flag. They know that
they have no colour bar, as there are still some left in Hong¬
Konge And they have a freedom which they know has disappeared
ín China. Finally there is the tie of religion, since a large
element in Macao is Ggtholic, and feels as such solidarity
with Portugal.
Thus today, with the support of a loyal population,
end thanks to a policy of wisdom and modération, “ortuge:1
4s holding to its om, This it does in the face of great aif¬
ficulties and of ever rising threats. It is interesting to note
that even among the Chinese here in Macao, if the poss ibility
of a Chinese invasion is discusceed, there is no doubt that
4n the end the city will return to Portugal, if it shpould be
lost. People simply feel Portuguese. And this is the most ad¬
mirable achievement of Portuguese Colonial policy : they have
gained over to them the loyalty of the coloured people.
In this connection one point must be stated. Since the
incidents of late J, ly, the name of England is rather loathed
here by both the Macao population and the Portuguese, because
of an editorial in the L,ndon "Times". This editorial said
as follows " ( this is translated from Portuguese to English.
It would be good, if, in case of publication, the original
LO