A plan to move the University of Macau to nearby Hengqin Island—administered by Zhuhai in the People’s Republic, has reignited the debate about just how much independence Macau has under its post handover constitutional framework, known as the Basic Law.
For some observers the university relocation proposal is an innocent attempt to provide a bigger campus for the institution. For others it’s a clumsy attempt to control an academic and student body whose members haven’t always been ‘on message’ as far as Beijing is concerned.
The authorities in Beijing have said the move is among key projects in a new Pearl River Delta development scheme. So far the Macau government has kept its own counsel, but the suggestion appears to have rekindled the debate about the degree of Macau’s sovereignty which burned during the recent announcement of a new security law.