Beijing adopts a functionalist approach to its integration of Hong Kong and Macao into China, in the hope that economic cooperation will both nurture the spirit of patriotism in the two Special Administrative Regions (SARs), and facilitate the ultimate institutional integration. Many analysts and pundits believe that this strategy has encountered bottom-up resistance in Hong Kong but should work better in Macao considering Macao’s pro-Beijing stance. However, this article finds that Beijing’s territorial rescaling strategies have de facto encouraged Macao elites to utilise their economic and political privileges, and exploit the border differentials as economic opportunities, thereby causing uneven development across borders and reinforcing rather than removing border separations.