PRC sending 10 warships to Hong Kong
January 2nd, 2009 From
>Date: Fri, 27 Jun 1997 12:11:27 -0700
>From: Mike Potter
>Reply-To: mike.potter@artecon.com
>Organization: Artecon, Inc.
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>Subject: PRC sending 10 warships to Hong Kong
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>
>China’s Troop Deployment Opposed
>________________________________
>By John Leicester
>Friday, June 27, 1997; 12:06 p.m. EDT
>
>HONG KONG (AP) — China’s decision today to send armored cars into Hong
>Kong in a 4,000-troop deployment will send a bad message to the world,
>the outgoing leader of the British colony warned.
>
>Gov. Chris Patten said it is proper for China to send troops to Hong
>Kong “as a symbol of Chinese sovereignty.”
>
>But he said the British had been telling China for weeks “that it would
>be a very bad signal to Hong Kong and to the rest of the world to deploy
>armored cars, armored personnel carriers, at that time in Hong Kong, in
>urban areas.”
>
>Patten said Britain would press for a reversal of the decision.
>
>China said today it will begin moving in 4,000 military personnel by
>land, sea and air, six hours after recovering sovereignty over Hong Kong
>at the stroke of midnight Monday.
>
>It long has been known that China will deploy up to 10,000 soldiers as a
>symbol of its newly recovered sovereignty in Hong Kong, which is to be a
>semiautonomous territory responsible for its own internal affairs.
>
>The number would roughly match British troop levels in recent years, but
>until now, no announcement had been made about major troop movements on
>the day of the handover.
>
>Almost 200 unarmed troops of the People’s Liberation Army are already in
>Hong Kong, preparing for the main force, and 509 lightly-armed soldiers
>are to drive in three hours before the handover ceremony.
>
>The new Chinese contingent will include 10 ships sailing to a base in
>Hong Kong harbor; six helicopters heading to the semi-rural New
>Territories; and 21 armored cars and 400 smaller vehicles crossing the
>border and heading to four bases, the future government’s office said.
>
>Patten said the armored force was not needed because Hong Kong was
>famous for its stability. “It is most unfortunate that this decision
>has been made,” Patten said.
>
>He said also noted that the deployment would coincide with the main U.S.
>television newscasts and be seen by millions of people.
>
>Bob Howlett, a spokesman for future Hong Kong leader Tung Chee-hwa, said
>the armored cars would go straight to their barracks. Two of these are
>on Hong Kong island, reachable only through crowded urban areas.
>
>Howlett declined to comment immediately on Patten’s remarks.
>
>In Washington, White House Press Secretary Mike McCurry did not directly
>criticize the Chinese decision to send 4,000 troops to Hong Kong.
>
>He said the handover should be consistent with “the principles the
>Chinese have acknowledged they will adhere to: Freedom of movement,
>respect for individual human rights and those liberties that have been
>the source of Hong Kong’s economic transformation.”
>
>Many people in Hong Kong distrust the Chinese army, seeing it as the
>enforcer of communism.
>
>But Raymond Wong, a building company worker, said it was natural that
>the Chinese send the force “to show that they are the chief and they
>are here.”
>
>Emily Cheung, who recently moved back to Hong Kong from Canada, said
>“there’s nothing wrong with it. They’re not going to kill people.”
>
>But Sammy Cheung, a 33-year-old hotel worker, said he was “sure that a
>lot of people will worry about it.” He added: “It’s like the beginning
>of war.”
>
>© Copyright 1997 The Associated Press