THE CHINESE army returned to Hong Kong yesterday with the arrival of an advance party of troops 10 weeks before the territory's return to rule from Beijing after more than 150 years as a British colony.
The colony's outgoing government sought to reassure the public but the territory's pro-democracy camp sounded a warning.
Governor Chris Patten gave a low-key welcome to the 40 incoming troops of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), saying the unit would play an important and useful role" in what was a sensible agreement" between Britain
China to prepare for the post handover Chinese garrison.
But the pro-democracy lobby, recalling the bloodshed at Tiananmen Square in 1989, warned it would take only one serious error of judgment by the PLA for morale in the territory to collapse.
Mr Lee Cheuk-yan, a standing committee member of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support for the Patriotic Movement in China, an organisation branded as subversive" by Beijing, said "just one act of suppression would be damaging enough for Hong Kong.
They have come here to represent exercise of power by China. People are worried that they may only follow commands from Beijing, at the expense of the Hong Kong people," Mr Lee said.
He questioned China's repeated pronouncements that the PLA garrison in Hong Kong will be disciplined, law-abiding and honest, drawn from the cream of its ranks.
It's not enough to wear fine clothes," Mr Lee said. "The truth is that China cannot do much with its public relations skills to improve the image of the PLA. The bloodstained image of their involvement in the crackdown of the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy movement cannot be simply washed away."
A convoy of eight cars and vans brought 40 uniformed but unarmed PLA personnel from the southern Chinese border city of Shenzhen into Hong Kong.
Beaming and looking relaxed, the leader of the Chinese advance party, Maj Gen Zhou Borong, stepped from a black saloon to shake hands with British and Chinese officials. He was later welcomed by the British commander-in-chief, Maj Gen Bryan Dutton.
Several other PLA groups are expected to arrive in the last days of rule from London, a century and a half after Britain seized the territory in 1841. The advance parties will pave the way for a garrison of several thousand to be stationed here after the Union Flag is hauled down.
Property to be taken over by the PLA when Britain pulls out its last troops at midnight on June 30th includes the world's most valuable swimming pool - on land worth some £3 million sterling tennis courts and assorted dog bones, including the remains of Pickles, a former regimental mascot.
In an ironic twist, a Royal Nayy boat fired a 21-gun salute in Victoria Harbour just an hour before the PLA party arrived. But it was to honour Queen Elizabeth on her 71st birthday, not the Chinese vanguard.