 |
| Instituto Salesiano, Macau, site of a Chinese Communist clandestine radio station during World War II |
Long
before Macau was “The Vegas of Asia,” it was a Portuguese-administered porto de abrigo, or haven, for political
activists. Secret societies dedicated
to overthrowing the Manchu (Qing) Dynasty were based there in the 1870s. The father of modern China, Sun Yat-sen, resided
in the enclave at different times in the 1890s, and founded the Tongmenghui (Liga Unida, or Unity League) in Macau in 1905.[1]
With
the collapse of China’s last dynasty in 1911 and the Bolshevik victory in
Russia in 1918, Macau became an increasingly attractive haven for another
activity—espionage. The Portuguese rounded up Chinese Communist cells in 1927
and 1929 and in the 1930s. While Ho Chi
Minh briefly lived in Macau, the Indochinese Communist Party held its first
congress in the Hotel Cantão (Canton Hotel) from 27 to 31 March 1935. In 1937 a Russian NKVD “illegal” agent posing
as a Frenchman was discovered operating a restaurant.[2]
These are just the publicly known
cases.
As
they prepared to invade China, the Japanese made investments in Macau, posting
intelligence officers under commercial cover.[3] When Tokyo’s forces swept across the mainland
and reached south China in mid-1938, Macau had become “a center for Japanese
espionage and in turn one for Chinese counter-espionage” according a Portuguese
report, which urged neutrality to preserve Lisbon’s control.[4] Japanese soldiers patronized Macau hotels,
restaurants and gambling houses without paying, the Japanese Kempeitai (secret
police), maintained a strong presence, and their forces controlled movement
in and out. However, Japan mostly
respected Macau’s neutrality: the
British consulate stayed in place, the Portuguese administration remained
intact, and Macau absorbed hundreds of thousands of refugees.[5]
Though
the environment remained hostile to the Chinese Communists, their urban agents
and rural guerillas found opportunities to expand operations. Pan Hannian, who ran all communist espionage
operations in Japanese-occupied China, directed Dr. Ke Lin, a veteran secret
agent,[6]
to move from Hong Kong to Macau in 1935 and establish a medical clinic. The mission: befriend and recruit General Ye
Ting to the communist cause. Ke was
successful, and continued clandestine operations in Macau for 16 years. Most important for the long term, Ke
cultivated and recruited Macau business figures such as Ho Yin and Ma Man-kei
to assist the cause.
Chinese
Communist East River Column guerillas began operating in the region when the
Japanese army arrived in 1938, and maintained three clandestine radio stations:
in the Hong Kong New Territories, on Landau Island, and in downtown Macau. The Macau station operated without
interruption from the Salesian School (Escola Salesiana—today’s Instituto
Salesiano), on Rua Central (Central Street).
The Japanese tried but failed to locate the Macau station, which stayed
on the air, undetected, until the end of the war.[7]
With Japan’s surrender in August 1945, the Chinese Nationalists surrounded
Macau, as had the Japanese before them, and placed operatives among “class
associations” of herbalists, barbers, hotel employees, and in factories.[8] In the midst of regular Nationalist bombings
and shootings against communists in Macau, Ho Yin appealed to the Portuguese
for protection. Lisbon’s
representatives tolerated secret operations of both the Nationalists and
Communists as long as they did not disturb public order.
The
Nam Kwong Company, founded in August 1949, became Beijing’s unofficial office
in Macau through 1987—when Xinhua, the New China News Agency, assumed that role
as it had in Hong Kong.[9] Ho Yin and Ma Man-kei founded educational and
business associations to counter the continuing strong presence of the exiled Nationalist Chinese. Ho Yin became the chief intermediary between Beijing
and Macau’s Portuguese administration, and ran some of Macau’s lucrative gold
smuggling operations—enriching himself and bringing $27 million a month into
China after the People’s Republic was declared in 1949.[10] Portuguese officials, under increasing pressure from both sides, largely turned a blind
eye to these re-exports, which during the Korean War also included petroleum,
tires, and medicines destined for the Chinese People’s Volunteers in
Korea.
The
balance of power in Macau dramatically shifted in 1966. A string of Nationalist Chinese bombings and
assassination attempts occurred that year, including an American-made grenade thrown at a car
carrying Ho Yin on 8 May.[11] With the advent of the Cultural Revolution that month, Beijing’s
agents in Macau prepared to move.
Portuguese mishandling of an unlicensed communist school on Taipa triggered
massive demonstrations beginning 3 December, which became known as the “12-3
(Um dois três) Incident.” Portuguese
authorities were forced to close or expel the Taiwan’s overt and clandestine
organizations.[12] While leaving Portuguese administrators in
charge of day-to-day operations, Chinese representatives now had final say in
important matters, allowing Beijing’s organizations to freely operate. In 1989, when a Portuguese police official
was asked about possible re-exports of US dual-use technology from Macau into
the PRC, he said “This is their country.
We must respect their wishes.”[13]
In
recent times, PRC-appointed authorities have allowed those who would be
suppressed as religious dissidents on the mainland to operate in Macau, but
have pursued a vigorous counter-intelligence program—tightening up on organized
crime and examining perceived use of at least one American casino by CIA to
spot and recruit corrupt Chinese officials visiting Macau.[14]
[1] Geoffrey C. Gunn, Encountering
Macau: A Portuguese City-State on the Periphery of China, 1557-1999
(Boulder: Westview Press, 1996), pp. 96 and 99.
As a casual observer can see today (2014-16), Western religious groups
and even the anti-communist Falungong religious movement openly evangelize in
Macau, and the non-communist press contains articles sometimes critical of the
casinos and the CCP-sponsored administration.
[2] João Guedes, Macau Confidencial (Macau: Instituto
Internacional Macau, 2015), pp. 113-119. Gunn, Encountering
Macau, pp. 96, 112-13 and 116, fn 60.
[3] Gunn, Encountering
Macau, pp. 117-18.
[4] Joao F. O. Botas, Macau
1937-1945, os Anos da Guerra [Macau 1937-1945, the war years] (Macau:
Instituto Internacional de Macau, 2012), pp. 293-94 and 323.
[6] Xiao Zhihao, Zhonggong
Tegong [Chinese Communist Special Operations] (Beijing: Shidai Wenxian
Chubanshe, 2010), pp. 205-206. Thanks to
Dr. David Chambers for this reference.
[8] Gunn, Encountering
Macau, pp. 128-29.
[9] Gunn, Encountering
Macau, p. 174
[10] Vasco Silverio Marques, Anibal Mesquita Borges, O
Ouro no Eixo Hong Kong Macau, 1946-1973 [The Gold on the Axis of Hong Kong and
Macau] (Macau: Instituto Português do Oriente, 2012), pp. 183, 217, 237, 246,
488.
[11] Fernando Lima, Macau:
as duas Transições [Macau The Two Transitions] (Macau: Fundação Macau,
1999), pp. 600-605.
[12] Ibid, pp. 606-08.
[13] Interview.
[14] Barbara Demick, “Macau Bank Freeze Angers North
Korea,” The Los Angeles Times, 7 April 2006.
Chris McGreal, “China Feared CIA Worked with Sheldon Adelson’s Macau
Casinos to Snare Officials,” The Guardian,
22 July 2015. James Ball and Harry Davies,
“How China’s Crackdown Threatens Big US Casino Moguls,” The Guardian,
23 April 2015. Sands China, Inc.,
“Findings of a Discreet Consulting Exercise in Macau, Hong Kong, and Beijing,”
25 June 2010, at http://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2170141-sands-asia-cia-report-redacted.html#document/p1
Thanks to Prof. Cathryn
Clayton of the University of Hawaii and eminent historian João Guedes in Macau for
their comments.
