CHINA ALLOWS NO EXTERNAL FORCES TO INTERFERE WITH HK, MACAO AFFAIRS

President Xi Jinping delivered a speech at a gathering celebrating the 20th anniversary of Macao's return to the motherland and the inauguration ceremony of the fifth-term government of the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) on Friday.

Here are the highlights:

MACAO ACHIEVES BEST EVER DEVELOPMENT IN HISTORY

Over the past 20 years Macao has achieved the best ever development in history.

The president attributed the achievement to the concerted effort made by the Macao Special Administrative Region government together with people from all walks of life, the support of the central government and the mainland, as well as the leadership of Ho Hau-wah and Chui Sai-on.

Macao's economy has grown by leaps and bounds since its return to the motherland, with its per capita GDP soaring to the world's second highest.

Macao has firmly established a constitutional order based on the Constitution and the Basic Law and improved its governing system since its return to the motherland in 1999.

The Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) has ensured the central authorities exercise overall jurisdiction while accurately implementing the high degree of autonomy.

'ONE COUNTRY, TWO SYSTEMS' WILL BE BETTER IMPLEMENTED

Macao compatriots have always had firm confidence in "one country, two systems".

The vitality and strength of "one country, two systems" will fully show as long as there is a firm belief in the principle and earnest practice of it.

"One country" is the prerequisite and basis of "two systems."

Only by ensuring no distortion of the "one country, two systems" practice can the cause of "one country, two systems" go far and steady.

IMPROVEMENT IN MACAO SAR GOVERNANCE HOPED FOR

President Xi Jinping expressed the hope that the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) government will keep apace with the times and improve governance of the SAR.

He called for steady efforts to improve the set of institutions for the law-based governance of Macao and ensure that the decision making by the government is well-conceived and public services are efficient.

Macao should focus on selected aspects and projects based on the region's conditions and well-conceived procedures to appropriately diversify its economy.

Macao should grasp the opportunity brought by the building of the Belt and Road and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

CHINA ALLOWS NO EXTERNAL FORCES TO INTERFERE WITH HONG KONG, MACAO AFFAIRS

The Chinese government and the Chinese people's will to safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests are rock hard.

I want to stress here that, after the return of Hong Kong and Macao to the motherland, the affairs of the two special administrative regions are completely China's internal affairs, which need no finger-pointing from any external forces.

HO IAT-SENG SWORN IN AS MACAO'S FIFTH-TERM CHIEF EXECUTIVE

Ho Iat-seng, who was sworn in here Friday morning as the fifth-term chief executive of the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR), said the new SAR government will continue to fully and accurately implement "one country, two systems."

Adopting the policy of concerted efforts, reform and innovation, the new SAR government will continue to fully and accurately implement "one country, two systems," strictly follow the Constitution and the Basic Law, conscientiously safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests, and undertake greater courage and innovative ability to advance economic and social development of Macao, Ho said in his inaugural address.

Macao will earnestly review the successful experience of "one country, two systems" and carry forward its practice with Macao characteristics, Ho said.

The new SAR government will step up public administrative reform, consolidate the constitutional order based on the Constitution and the Basic Law, and improve the governance system and capability, he said.

Macao will advance industries such as convention, traditional Chinese medicine, cultural creation, and the hi-tech industry.

It will also seize opportunities brought along by the Belt and Road Initiative and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and make its economy appropriately diverse.

"I believe the future of Macao will be even better and the cause of 'one country, two systems' will be even more splendid," he said.

On behalf of the new SAR government and Macao residents, Ho extended warm welcome and sincere gratitude to all the guests who attended the inauguration ceremony held in the Macao East Asian Games Dome, stressing that "the great motherland has always been the strong supporter for Macao."

Ho, 62, won the chief executive election with 392 of the 400 valid votes on Aug 25, and was appointed by the central government as the fifth-term chief executive of the Macao SAR on Sept 4.

MACAO'S ACHIEVEMENTS PROVE VITALITY OF 'ONE COUNTRY, TWO SYSTEMS'

On Thursday, during his visit to the Macao Special Administrative Region, President Xi Jinping observed that even "a table is large enough to stage a big opera". The dazzling trajectory of Macao's development since its sovereignty returned to China 20 years ago has demonstrated the pertinency of that remark.

Thanks to its law-based governance, the SAR administration has shaken off Macao's shady image of the past, strengthened its residents' sense of personal safety and ensured an orderly society in which different communities and people of different faiths harmoniously live and work together.

And under the framework of "one country, two systems", the SAR government and people have made outstanding achievements by integrating the SAR's development into the overall development of the country and complementing the mainland's reform and opening-up, greatly enhancing people's sense of well-being.

Macao's gross domestic product has expanded nearly eight-fold over the past 20 years. Last year, its per capital GDP had rocketed to about $84,000 from $15,000 in 1999; the average life expectancy had been extended by three years, from 80.7 years to 83.7 years; and with the introduction of 15-year free education, the college enrollment rate had risen from 32.3 percent to 80.7 percent. And the number of government subsidized houses has increased more than three times over the past decade.

These achievements have been underpinned by the SAR's active integration into the overall development of the mainland over the past 20 years, which has granted it broader development space and enabled it to diversify its economic structure and reduce its dependency on the gambling industry.

And to make its table a little larger, so it can stage what is now a bigger opera than ever, Macao has increased its land area from 22 square kilometers to 32 sq km by reclaiming land from the sea, and it is cooperating with the Guangdong government to develop the 106-sqkm Hengqin Island to its west, which has become a thriving economic development zone, and home to the new campus of the University of Macau.

When Xi visited Macao in January 2009, as the world was still trying to build a firewall to contain the global financial crisis, he stressed that although the SAR was facing difficulties, the country had solutions and the SAR should have hope.

His words were not empty reassurance.

SIXTH CHINA-BRAZIL SATELLITE LAUNCHED

The CBERS-4A, the sixth satellite of the China-Brazil Earth Resources Satellite Program, lifted off at 11:22 am on Friday atop a Long March 4B carrier rocket at the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in North China's Shanxi province.

The satellite was later placed into a sun-synchronous orbit about 628 kilometers above the Earth.

It carries three optical apparatus – a Chinese panchromatic, multispectral imager and Brazil's multispectral camera as well as wide-field imager – and is tasked with producing remote sensing data to serve a wide range of public services in the two nations including land resources survey, environmental inspection, climate change research, disaster prevention and agricultural forecast, according to the China National Space Administration.

Once the satellite starts formal operation, it will replace the CBERS-4, which was launched by a Long March-4B from the Taiyuan center in December 2014 and has been working since then, the administration said.

China and Brazil commenced their cooperation in satellite research and development in 1988. CBERS-1, the first satellite created by the joint endeavor, was launched in October 1999. The second and third satellites were launched in October 2003 and September 2007. The first three had retired. The fourth, CBERS-3, was lofted in December 2013 but failed to enter its preset orbit due to rocket malfunctions. All of the program's satellites were launched by Chinese rockets in China.

CHINA POISED TO OVERTAKE US AS LARGEST CONSUMER MARKET

China is expected to surpass the US as the world's largest consumer market this year or next year, said Shanghai Securities News, citing experts on Friday.

In November, the country's retail sales of consumer goods reached 3.81 trillion yuan ($540 billion), realizing an 8 percent increase for the first time since July and a pace of growth rising 0.8 percentage points from October.

Moreover, the figure totaled 37.29 trillion yuan from January to November.

Chinese people spent 33.1 billion yuan on cosmetics, surging 16.8 percent year-on-year in November. In the first eleven months, the figure totaled 270 billion yuan.

Cosmetics are becoming a daily requirement for most people in China, said the newspaper, citing Zhao Ping, director of the international trade research department at the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade Academy.

Makeup for beauty is no longer exclusively for women, with men's cosmetics coming into fashion, Zhao said.

Although the consumer base for men's cosmetics is small, it is seeing rapid growth and maintaining a double-digit increase, Zhao added.

Chinese people's spending on household products is on the rise, especially showing huge potential in fourth- and fifth-tier cities, said Shen Jianguang, vice-president and chief economist at JD Digits.

In 2018, the consumption scale gap between China and the US has narrowed to $280 billion, Zhao said.

China is the world's fastest-growing consumer market, said Guan Lixin, an official with the Ministry of Commerce.

Online sales in the US were $7.4 billion in this year's Black Friday shopping spree, while the figure from Alibaba's platform reached $3.83 billion for the Chinese Singles Day shopping event, Guan said.

In the first 10 months, the consumption growth in Dalian, Xi'an, Changsha and Zhengzhou has been over 25 percent, showing strong power.

Thanks to strong population inflows, the consumption growth from second-tier metropolitan areas has been higher than that from first-tier metropolitan areas, Shen said.

It's noteworthy that the total consumption growth from fourth- and fifth-tier cities has become higher than that from other cities, but the consumption structure in counties should be improved, Shen added.

In the future, China's development will be more driven by domestic demand and consumption with the growth becoming more sustainable, said Fu Linghui, a spokesman with the National Bureau of Statistics.

TOP COURT BOOSTS EFFORTS TO ASSIST VICTIMS OF INJUSTICE

Chinese courts have intensified efforts to compensate and give judicial assistance to those who were hurt by miscarriages of justice over the past few years, China's top court said.

"Offering aid or state compensation for people who were wronged by government departments, including those wrongly convicted due to judicial misconduct, is an effective way to balance public power and private rights," said Liu Zhumei, director of the Supreme People's Court's compensation office.

She made the remarks at a news conference on Thursday, saying sufficient compensation and timely judicial aid as a major part of the social security system also play a bigger role in improving people's livelihood.

State compensation can be applied not only for judicial mistakes but also administrative misconduct, she explained. Courts nationwide concluded 83,315 compensation cases from 2014 to 2018, and more than 22,000 of them were related to the judicial errors.

Since the beginning of this year, courts at each level have heard 6,449 cases on state compensation regarding judicial mistakes-an increase from an average of about 5,000 cases in past years, Liu said, adding the growth should attribute to people's increasing legal awareness.

In a high-profile case in September 2018, for example, the Jiangxi High People's Court compensated villager Li Jinlian 2.93 million yuan ($425,900) for wrongly convicting him of intentional homicide. Three months before that, Li, who served 19 years in prison, had his name cleared due to insufficient evidence after a retrial.

The compensation for Li included 2.03 million yuan for wrongful detention and 900,000 yuan for mental anguish.