CHINESE President Hu Jintao arrived in Macau yesterday for celebrations marking the fifth anniversary of its return to Chinese rule, hailing the success of Beijing's ""one country, two systems'' policy.

""In the five years since Macau returned to the motherland, it has achieved significant results in all aspects, such as its economy and society,'' Mr Hu told reporters upon his arrival.

The former Portuguese colony has seen double-digit economic growth since China took over control on Dec 20, 1999.

Mr Hu, the first Chinese leader to visit since his predecessor Jiang Zemin celebrated the first handover anniversary in 2000, was greeted at the airport by Macau's political leader Edmund Ho and hundreds of other officials and flag-waving students.

Repeating his praise for Macau's achievements at an evening banquet yesterday, he said: ""The central government and the Chinese people of all ethnic groups are exceptionally happy to see this.''

While the occasion is to mark Macau's handover to China, the focus is on what Mr Hu has to say to Taiwan in a major speech he is to deliver today.

The Straits Times first reported, on Dec 2, about the speech, which could be Mr Hu's most important statement on the Taiwan issue since he assumed full authority in September by taking control of the military.

The report was confirmed yesterday by Mr Chen Zuoer, deputy director of the Hong Kong and Macau Office.

""After listening to President Hu's important speech, you would have a much better understanding of our policy,'' he told Hong Kong reporters, but refused to elaborate.

Most expected Mr Hu to announce a policy of anti-separatism on Taiwan. Just two days ahead of his arrival, Beijing announced that it would enact an anti-secession law, widely seen to be aimed at preventing Taiwan from splitting from the mainland.

A source in Beijing said that the title of the law was changed from ""unification'' to ""anti-secession'', signalling that Mr Hu
considered the latter to be more important at the moment.

The source refused to speculate whether this meant that Mr Hu would give anti-secession higher priority than unification, but
stressed that such a change was not insignificant, given the great importance attached to semantics in cross-strait politics.

""As late as September, we were still talking about unification law, not anti-secession law. The change has to come from the very top,'' he said.

The change may also reflect the consensus among the Chinese leadership that anti-secession is a far more urgent task right now than unification, which would take much a longer time to achieve.

""While unification could be a long drawn-out process not easily achievable and not entirely at Beijing's discretion, anti-secession definitely is,'' he said.

What is certain is that Mr Hu will use Macau as a shining example of China's ""one country, two systems'' unification model.

The model was first intended for Taiwan, but the island refused to accept it right from the very beginning.

The system also ran into difficulties in Hong Kong where it was first implemented following the former British colony's return to Chinese rule in 1997.

Economically, Hong Kong has lost its past vigour and has to rely on Beijing to bail out its ailing economy.

Politically, Beijing's intervention in local politics has become more obvious and forceful.

In stark contrast, the model seemed to work well in Macau. After its return to Chinese rule in 1999, Macau achieved double-digit growth for three years running, bringing about unprecedented prosperity.

Most importantly, Beijing never felt the need to intervene in its local politics.