Does Macao have a special relationship with Beijing like H.K. does or did it become completely absorbed by China when the Portuguese handed it over in 1997?
It has the same status as Hong Kong – it’s a “special administrative region” of the PRC. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macao
Handed over in 1999. Macau was never an issue because when the PRC started making noise about the Portugese colony, the Portugese government basically said “you want it back now - it’s yours.”
Portugal’s fascist regime was overthrown in 1974, and the new government gave instant independence to all colonies, like Angola and Mozambique. They wanted to quit Macau, but Beijing insisted they stay, so as not to set a disturbing precedent for HK. I am told China even sent a gunboat to hang around to discourage a withdrawal.
The colonial authorities had already lost much influence anyway during riots in 1967, which spilt over from the mainland’s cultural revolution. So China already pulled many strings well before 1999 when Macau got the same Special Administrative Region status as HK.
As an SAR its constitutional relationship with Beijing is the same as HK (both come under the same central govt dept). The local government system is somewhat different, reflecting its much smaller size (500,000 vs HK’s 7m people) and differences from colonial times.
The legal system is less dependable than HK’s, and the bureaucracy is less efficient. Law and order is basically OK, but suffers from the huge role gambling plays in the economy. The locally born population had Portuguese citizenship in 1999 (most HK people didn’t have full UK citizenship), so the handover wan’t a big trauma. They also had - and still have - lower expectations of local autonomy and quality of governance. There’s no serious pro-democracy movement in Macau, so the place doesn’t give Beijing headaches like HK.