ON July 1, 1997, Hong Kong was returned to China. After almost 150 years, the British had to hand over their prized colony in the Pearl River Delta. Under the wise guidance of Deng Xiaoping, the man who propelled the People’s Republic into the modern age, Beijing devised the formula of “one country, two systems”. Hong Kong now has the status of a Special Administrative Region (SAR) of the People’s Republic of China. While China is the absolute sovereign over Hong Kong, the former colony continues to enjoy its own legal system, which has been shaped by the British concept of the rule of law. Hong Kong has its own currency and its own local government, which is partly elected by universal suffrage.

Two years after the royal yacht “Britannia”, with Prince Charles on board, sailed away from Hong Kong, Macau returned to China. Here too, Deng’s formula “one country, two systems” applies and Macau is an SAR of the People’s Republic. As in the case of India, the Portuguese had reached China much earlier than the British. The first Portuguese settlement in Macau was established in 1557. Unlike other European powers in Asia, the Portuguese linked their commercial presence to the church. The Jesuits were particularly active and Goa became the “Rome of the East”, from where missionaries also went to southeast Asia, China and Japan. On a visit to Macau we met in the main church two priests who hailed from Goa!

The transition from Portuguese rule to Chinese sovereignty went rather smoothly. The Maccanese quickly found their feet in the new order of things. The local government spent a lot of money and effort on restoring the valuable colonial architecture. Old Macau is a Lusitanian jewel. Even more important and lucrative, however, is the emergence of Macau as the “Las Vegas of the East”. Gambling is prohibited in nearby Hong Kong and in mainland China. On the other hand, the Chinese are known to be superstitious and are great gamblers. Under the Portuguese rule, a Hong Kong tycoon, Stanley Ho, had the monopoly in gambling. This has changed since Macau’s return to China. Leading American casino operators have been let in and new casinos have sprung up like mushrooms after a warm summer rain.

However, Beijing has put Macau not only on the tourist and the casino map, but also cleverly used the Lusitanian or Portuguese connection of Macau to woo Brazil and other important countries in the Latin American and African world. The ever-growing need to secure the steady supply of raw materials and energy sources is a central part of China’s geopolitical strategy. With great foresight, the Chinese government is making sure that future demand can be met. In this it is important to have reliable partners and protect supply chains from costly disruptions.

The global competition for scarce resources is growing and reaching all corners of the world. Both India and China are looking to Africa and Latin America, continents with abundant natural resources and big market potential. If the dependency on Europe and the United States is to be reduced, Africa and Latin America will have to play an increasing role in the trade policies of China and India. For historical and cultural reasons, India is focused on the Anglo-Saxon world. With the non-aligned movement having lost its political significance in the post cold war world, the Commonwealth has underpinned this limited focus.

Of course, soft factors such as language and culture cannot replace powerful tools such as the economy and the military. But they can be very useful facilitators to build strong and lasting ties between different countries. Good examples are the regular Ibero-American summits or the reunions of the Francophone countries. Amo-ng such groupings many problems can be solved amicably which in more formal international fora may sometimes prove to be intractable. Of course, Portuguese rule is more distant in the case of Goa than in Macau. Nevertheless, Goa still has strong elements of the Lusitanian way of life, which may be strengthened with a bit of encouragement by Delhi and the state government. In any case, there is enough historical and cultural substance for India to make ample use of Goa to prove its traditional cosmopolitism to the Latin world.

Many Indians and, of course, many people around the world see Goa as an attractive tourist destination. However, it is high time to show the world that Goa can offer much more than mere relaxation. It could become an important meeting ground for scholars and policy makers from different corners of the world and, thereby, contribute to the emerging new world order in which Africans, Asians and Latin Americans, who share a common Portuguese inheritance can play a useful role.