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Government response to several Hong Kong residents having been refused to enter Macao incident
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     In response to media enquiries on several Hong Kong residents having been refused to enter Macao this morning (March 15), a government spokesman said:

     ˇ§We do not comment on individual cases. We understand that, similar to other jurisdictions, the Macao Special Administrative Region (Macao SAR) has its own immigration control.

     "The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government (HKSARG) noted that some individual Hong Kong residents, including Legislative Council members, academics and a press photographer, have recently been refused entry by Macao authorities.  We have approached the Macao authorities to better understand the situation and to express our concern about these cases.

     "In early March, The Chief Executive himself in Beijing had expressed the concern of the HKSARG with the Macao SAR Chief Executive about the cases of Hong Kong residents being refused entry into Macao.

     "In a press release issued by the Macao SAR Chief Executive on the same day (March 5), he reiterated that the Macao SAR Government would not make any decisions detrimental to the normal exchanges between Hong Kong and Macao. He also emphasised that the Macao SAR Government maintained positive attitude towards the relationship between Hong Kong and Macao, and attached great importance to anything that was conducive to the normal and beneficial relationship between the two territories.

     "The HKSARG will continue to monitor the development of the situation."

Ends/Sunday, March 15, 2009
Issued at HKT 13:02

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