The Sino-Portuguese Treaty of Peking was an unequal treaty signed on 1 December 1887 between the Kingdom of Portugal and the Qing dynasty. Regarded by China as one of the unequal treaties concluded following the Second Opium War, it granted Portugal perpetual colonial rights over Macau in exchange for its cooperation in curbing the smuggling of opium.
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👉 Sino-Portuguese Treaty of Peking in the context of Macau
Macau or Macao is a special administrative region of the People's Republic of China (PRC). With a population of about 710,000 people and a land area of 32.9 km (12.7 sq mi), it is the most densely populated region in the world.
Formerly a Portuguese colony, the territory of Portuguese Macau was first leased to Portugal by the Ming dynasty as a trading post in 1557. Portugal paid an annual rent and administered the territory under Chinese sovereignty until 1887, when Portugal gained perpetual colonial rights with the signing of the Sino-Portuguese Treaty of Peking. The colony remained under Portuguese rule until the 1999 handover to China. Macau is a special administrative region of China, which maintains separate governing and economic systems from those of mainland China under the principle of "one country, two systems". The unique blend of Portuguese and Chinese architecture in the city's historic centre has resulted in its designation as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2005.
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Sino-Portuguese Treaty of Peking in the context of Handover of Macau
The handover of Macau from the Portuguese Republic to the People's Republic of China (PRC) officially occurred at midnight on 20 December 1999. This event ended 442 years of Portuguese rule in the former settlement, which began in 1557. Macau was settled by Portuguese merchants that year during the Ming dynasty era and was subsequently under various degrees of Portuguese rule until 1999. Portugal's involvement in the region was formally recognised by the Qing dynasty in 1749. The Portuguese governor João Maria Ferreira do Amaral, emboldened by British actions in the First Opium War and the Treaty of Nanking, attempted to annex the territory by expelling Qing authorities in 1846, but was assassinated in 1849. After the Second Opium War, the Portuguese government, along with a British representative, signed the 1887 Sino-Portuguese Treaty of Peking that gave Portugal perpetual colonial rights to Macau on the condition that Portugal would cooperate in efforts to end the smuggling of opium.
After the Proclamation of the People's Republic of China in 1949 and the transfer of China's seat from the Republic of China (ROC) to the PRC at the United Nations (UN) in 1971, then Chinese foreign Minister Huang Hua appealed to the UN Special Committee on Decolonization to remove Macau and Hong Kong from its list of colonies, preferring to engage in direct bilateral negotiations in getting the territories returned rather than the independence of the territories as was implied by its inclusion on the list.