Macao and Hong Kong, China’s two special administrative regions, speak the same dialect, watch the same TV programmes and are just an hour away from each other by ferry. But, when it comes to politics, the two cities are a world apart.

Five years ago a debate over controversial national security legislation mandated by Article 23 of the Basic Law, Hong Kong’s mini-constitution, rocked the territory’s political establishment. On Sunday in Macao, fewer than 100 people attended a rally against a similar law.