MACAO PACT DETAILS  RELEASED AFTER THURSDAY SIGNING
Details of today's agreement to hand
over Portuguese-ruled Macao to China will be released after the
official signing in Peking on Thursday, Portuguese Ambassador
to Peking Octavio Valerio said.
    Valerio earlier told reporters that the tiny territory
would be returned to Chinese rule on December 20, 1999, but
gave no further details.
    A statement issued today did not give details of the
agreement as earlier expected.
    "We are very happy with the results," Valerio said after four
days of negotiations in the Chinese capital.
    The talks were the fourth in a series on the Macao question
and had been expected to focus on the status of the 40,000
Portuguese passport-holders among Macao's 400,000 residents.
    Asked if the issue of nationality after the Chinese
takeover had been a problem in the talks, Valerio replied: "It
was one of them."
    China traditionally opposes granting dual nationality to
its citizens and requires holders of foreign passports to give
up their Chinese citizenship.
    In Taipei, Taiwan said it would not recognise the
agreement. A Foreign Ministry statement said: "We regard the
agreement on the Macao issue as null and void."
    It said: "Macao should be returned to the Republic of China
on Taiwan because communist China, a rebel entity, has no right
to represent China and all the Chinese people.
    "The handover by the Portuguese government is in disregard
of the freedom, welfare and safety of more than 400,000 Chinese
people there. We will try our upmost to help and protect them."
    Taiwan's Kuomintang (Nationalist) government claims to rule
all China. It has no diplomatic relations with Portugal.
 REUTER
