PRESIDENT Jorge Sampaio of Portugal arrived in Beijing yesterday for an eight-day visit to China aimed at strengthening political and economic ties.
Mr Sampaio's trip is the first state visit to China by a foreign leader since Deng Xiaoping's death, and comes as the two nations prepare for the return of Macau to Chinese sovereignty at the end of 1999.
The Portuguese leader is scheduled to meet his counterpart, President Jiang Zemin, and although the latter met President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan, who is on holiday in China, on Friday, the face to face will be Mr Jiang's first state meeting since Deng's death.
The Portuguese delegation is 180 strong and includes the Foreign Minister, Mr Jaime Gama, and the Economic Affairs Minister, Mr Augusto Mateus.
Mr Sampaio said in Macau that Portugal and China were interested in increasing their business ties, based on the state of their "excellent" political relations.
Preparations for the handover of Macau to mainland rule are proceeding smoothly, in marked contrast to the often hitter polemics over Hong Kong, which reverts to China on July 1st.
During his six day visit to Macau, Mr Sampaio urged the local legislature to pass clear and generous laws that will guarantee [the Macau population's] complete exercise of their rights and liberties".
He also said he would oppose any attempt to reintroduce the death penalty in this Portuguese enclave.
"I am saying in advance that if I received a legal document calling for the re establishment of the death penalty, I would impose my veto without hesitation," he told a press conference.
Macau, which lies on the south China coast, has been plagued by an upsurge in crime by Chinese triad gangs, leading to calls from the Chinese community for the reintroduction of the death penalty rather than maintaining the "soft" Portuguese penal code.
Lisbon has refused to change the law.
Capital punishment was abolished completely in the Portuguese constitution of 1976.
"I would rather treat the cause rather than the symptoms," Mr Sampaio said.
The territory of 455,000 people will become a special administrative region of China from December 20th, 1999, after 442 years of Portuguese rule.
. China said yesterday that Deng had personally given instructions to drafters of the constitution that will apply in Hong Kong after the British colony returns to Chinese rule. During the drafting work on the Basic Law, Deng constantly met members of the committee to give instructions, the official Xinhua news agency said.