evidence: Macao is one of two special administrative regions of the People’s Republic of China (the other is Hong Kong). It is located on the southeastern coast of China on the Pearl River estuary. The Macao Special Administrative Region comprises the Macao Peninsula, which extends from Guangdong province to the islands of Taipa and Colôane; the islands are connected to the mainland by bridges. [...] Macao is governed as a special administrative region of the People’s Republic of China. It is directly under the authority of China’s central government, which controls defense and foreign policy matters, but has a high degree of independence in its economic and political affairs. Macao’s relationship with China and its governmental structure are outlined in the Basic Law of the Macao Special Administrative Region, which was adopted in 1999. [...] Macao (also Macau), a special administrative region of the People's Republic of China, occupies a small, hilly peninsula located on the west shore of the Pearl River (or Zhujiang River) on the southeast coast of China. Originally less than 15 square kilometers (5.8 square miles), the peninsula and the adjacent islands of Taipa and Colôane have expanded by land reclamation since the early twentieth century to 27 square kilometers (10.4 square miles). The population in 2004 was approximately 460,000, 95 percent comprising Chinese immigrants from the South China provinces, plus a small number of perhaps no more than 5,000 Macanese, the mixed-blood descendants of early Portuguese unions with Asian peoples.