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FM AMCONSUL HONG KONG
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 7149
INFO RUEHOO/CHINA POSTS COLLECTIVE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 HONG KONG 000483 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EAP/CM; ALSO FOR DRL 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/16/2019 
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM MC HK CH
SUBJECT: MACAU (MOSTLY) LIFTS TRAVEL BAN ON PAN-DEMOCRATS; 
SOME ACTIVISTS STILL BARRED 
 
REF: (A) HONG KONG 354 (B) HONG KONG 11 
 
Classified By: Consul General Joe Donovan for reasons 1.4(b) and (d) 
 
¶1. (C) Summary and comment:  Weeks of mounting pressure from 
Hong Kong's pan-democrats, the media, the Hong Kong 
government (reluctantly), and perhaps even Beijing have led 
Macau to lift what appeared to be a blanket ban on Hong Kong 
democratic activists' visiting Macau.  Twenty eight 
pan-democratic members of the Legislative Council, District 
Councilors and activists were admitted to Macau March 15 for 
an exchange with their counterparts in Macau's 
proto-democratic New Macau Association.  Two legislators -- 
League of Social Democrats firebrand "Long Hair" Leung 
Kwok-hung and Confederation of Trade Unions' General 
Secretary Lee Cheuk-yan -- were denied entry, along with 
three democratic activists.  Hong Kong and Macau democrats 
have criticized these refusals in the media, and Hong Kong 
democrats again called on Hong Kong Secretary for Security 
Ambrose Leung to raise the issue with Macau counterparts.  In 
this escalating confrontation, cooler heads in Macau seem to 
have prevailed -- to a point.  Letting in the majority of the 
democrats may help move Macau's recent passage of Article 23 
legislation out of at least the international media (ref A). 
However, the decision to continue the ban on Long Hair and 
Lee will serve only to drag out an unnecessary irritant in 
Hong Kong-Macau relations and continue to attract unfavorable 
media attention to Macau.  End summary and comment. 
 
--------------------- 
Background to the Ban 
--------------------- 
 
¶2. (C) Since late last year, and possibly spurred by the 
participation of Hong Kong's pan-democratic legislators and 
activists in protests against Macau's then-draft Article 23 
legislation, Macau has largely banned known Hong Kong 
democrats from entering Macau.  The legal authority for the 
ban is unrelated to Article 23, but rests rather on Macau's 
2002 Internal Security Law.  Under the rubric of 
"Preventative Police Measures," Article XVII Section 1(4) 
grants Macau police (who control immigration), the right: 
 
"To prevent the entry into the Macau Special Administrative 
Region of, or to deport, residents of foreign territories who 
are regarded under the law as unwelcome, or who constitute a 
threat to internal security and stability; or who are 
regarded as suspects of transnational crimes, including 
international terrorists." 
 
Macau officials have cited this law in all the refusals, 
without ever (at least to our knowledge) citing a specific 
offense committed by someone refused.  Macau has also 
steadfastly denied that it has compiled a "black list" of 
persons to be barred from entry, although one pan-democratic 
party member who was recently denied entry told us the only 
thing the otherwise-polite Macau officials would tell him was 
that his name was on a list. 
 
¶3. (C) While the largest single refusal was the December 20 
decision to bar a group of over twenty Hong Kong democrats, 
including nine Legislative Council (LegCo) members traveling 
to take part in an anti-Article 23 activity (ref B), recent 
weeks had seen refusals even of democrats traveling for 
tourism.  In at least one instance, a democrat was traveling 
from Mainland China into Macau at the Zhuhai border crossing, 
and thus ironically was returned to the PRC having been found 
ineligible to enter Macau.  The first of two straws which 
broke the camel's back were Macau's refusal February 18 and 
again February 27 of South China Morning Post (SCMP) 
photojournalist Felix Wong, who was already accredited by the 
Macau government.  That action put the ban into the headlines 
and put the full force of the prominent SCMP's editorial page 
against the ban.  The second was the March 3 refusal of 
widely-respected University of Hong Kong Law School Dean 
Johannes Chan, who was traveling to deliver an annual lecture 
(unrelated to Article 23) at the University of Macau. 
 
--------------------------------- 
Hong Kong Mobilizes, Macau Hedges 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶4. (C) Up to the point of the SCMP's Wong's refusal, the Hong 
Kong government held to its line that, while it was 
monitoring the issue, Macau was within its rights to control 
its border in accordance with its own laws.  Wong's February 
18 refusal was coincident with Macau Secretary for Economy 
and Finance Francis Tam's visit to Hong Kong to attend a 
conference on Pearl River Delta cooperation.  Hong Kong Chief 
Secretary Henry Tang chose to raise the issue with Tam at 
 
HONG KONG 00000483  002 OF 002 
 
 
that time, but downplayed the issue as a dispute to be worked 
out among "brothers".  After Professor Chan was refused March 
3, however, the issue rose to a boiling point.  Hong Kong's 
pan-democratic legislators moved for a debate in LegCo on the 
issue March 4, with even pro-government legislators like 
Regina Ip calling on Secretary for Security Ambrose Leung to 
raise the matter with the Chief Executive.  Hong Kong Chief 
Executive (CE) Donald Tsang did raise the issue with Macau CE 
Edmund Ho on the margins of the National People's Congress 
meetings in Beijing March 5, although Ho told the press he 
was sure Macau police had acted appropriately.  Hong Kong's 
Central Government Liaison Office (CGLO) entered the fray 
March 6, with CGLO Director Gao Siren telling reporters he 
was "looking into the situation, and (would) raise the issue 
with the relevant departments of the central government." 
 
¶5. (C) Macau security officials held to their line that they 
were acting in accordance with Macau law, stressed each case 
was reviewed on its own merits, and denied the existence of a 
black list.  Doing any friends in the Macau government no 
favors, casino mogul Stanley Ho loudly applauded the bans in 
remarks to reporters, using a Cantonese vulgarity to brand 
those barred as troublemakers.  However, since early March, 
the Macau government, from CE Edmund Ho down, also began 
taking greater pains to stress the importance attached to 
Hong Kong and Macau ties.  In a March 12 meeting with the 
Consul General, Secretary for Economy and Finance Francis Tam 
told us with a laugh that "some people in the government are 
too sensitive."  He suggested the issue had been resolved, 
noting that even the central government wanted to see some 
"face" given to Hong Kong CE Tsang. 
 
---------------------------- 
How the Entry Ban Played Out 
---------------------------- 
 
¶6. (C) Hong Kong's pan-democratic camp held a press 
conference outside LegCo March 11 announcing its intention to 
travel en masse to Macau March 15, for an "exchange" hosted 
by Macau's proto-democratic New Macau Association (NMA). 
While the stated purpose of the trip was to discuss issues 
among the two SAR's democrats, including the February 26 
passage of Macau's Article 23 bill, the real goal was to test 
whether the high-level discussion between the two CEs had 
ended the travel ban.  A preliminary test of CE Tsang's 
diplomacy went well, with Hong Kong academic and Civic Party 
Secretary-General Kenneth Chan admitted to attend a 
non-political academic conference March 12.  Chan's entry led 
Hong Kong officials to urge the pan-democrats not to push the 
Macau side too far with their March 15 trip, a plea the 
pan-democrats ignored. 
 
¶7. On Sunday March 15, 28 out of 33 democrats were admitted 
to Macau.  Thirteen pan-democratic LegCo members were 
admitted: the Democratic Party's Albert Ho, Emily Lau, Kam 
Nai-wai, Wong Sing-chi, Lee Wing-tat, James To, and Cheng 
Man-kwong; the Civic Party's Audrey Eu, Margaret Ng, and 
Tanya Chan; the Association for Democracy and the People's 
Livelihood's  Cheung Kwok-che, and independents Cyd Ho and 
Joseph Lee.  Two legislators -- League of Social Democrats 
(LSD) firebrand "Long Hair" Leung Kwok-hung and Confederation 
of Trade Unions (CTU) leader Lee Cheuk-yan, were refused, 
along with three democratic activists.  Press speculated that 
the refusals had to do with both LSD and CTU's roles in 
promoting worker activism, which made them seem too risky to 
the government in the runup to now-annual May 1 marches by 
Macau labor.  Press coverage of the democrats' arrival was 
heavy, giving a bright spotlight in which Leung and Lee could 
protest their ban.  The Hong Kong government issued a 
carefully-worded statement that, while it would not discuss 
specific cases, it would "continue to monitor development of 
this situation." 
 
¶8. (C) The other democrats, as well as the NMA, also 
protested the refusals, but proceeded with their scheduled 
program.  The Hong Kong democrats staged a protest in front 
of Macau's Government House, which Macau press reported the 
NMA observed but did not join.  Pan-democratic "box lunch 
caucus" convener Cyd Ho presented a petition to a Macau 
government representative protesting Macau's "selective" 
travel bans and calling on Chief Executive Ho to allow free 
travel to Macau by all Hong Kong residents.  Macau media also 
reported that protests by non-Macau residents are illegal 
(the report claimed only Macau SAR citizens have this right 
under law) and that protests by anyone directly in front of 
government house are also illegal.  However, police allowed 
the protest to occur unobstructed. 
DONOVAN