CHINA announced yesterday that 4,000 People's Liberation Army troops will cross the border into Hong Kong in armoured cars, ships and helicopters at dawn on Tuesday, the day after the British restore Chinese sovereignty to the territory after 156 years.
The Chinese had the right to cross the border at midnight but are believed to have delayed their entry into Hong Kong to avoid arriving under cover of darkness.
Britain's outgoing Governor, Mr Chris Patten, saw the Chinese decision to send in troops by armoured car as a provocative act, saying it sent an "appalling message" to the people of Hong Kong.
However, Washington said China was acting within its rights. "They've always said they were going to put Chinese troops where the British troops were. That's not anything unusual. It's their territory," a White House official said.
Chinese state television said the soldiers will enter through three border posts. They will deploy in barracks vacated overnight by British forces.
The PLA troops will not be involved in street patrols or crowd control. Under the 1984 joint agreement with Britain returning Hong Kong to China, PLA troops will only be used outside barracks in cases of national emergency.
Baroness Thatcher, who as British prime minister signed the joint agreement, arrived yesterday in Hong Kong for the handover ceremonies, during which Prince Charles will formally return the territory to the Chinese President, Mr Jiang Zemin.
An unprecedented security operation was put into effect in Hong Kong yesterday, with frog-men checking the waters around the convention centre where the event will take place.
Ireland will be represented by the Minister of State in the Department of the Taoiseach, Mr Seamus Brennan. He will also attend the swearing in of the provisional legislature.
The British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, and the US Secretary of State, Ms Madeleine Albright, will stay away in protest at the undemocratic nature of the provisional legislature, sending senior diplomats instead. But no other country has joined their partial boycott.
Hong Kong's stock market closed at a record high on the last trading day of British rule with financial confidence in the future completely unshaken by the heated political rhetoric.
Mr Patten gave his reaction to the troop deployment while attending the release of pigeons of peace at a Buddha festival. "It doesn't sound to me the right sort of signal to send to the international community, and above all I think it is a most appalling signal to send to the people of Hong Kong," he said, indicating that people would be reminded of the 1989 PLA crackdown on Tiananmen Square democracy protesters.
"We will continue to make representation and hope that this decision is reversed. I think I'm right in saying the arrival of the armoured personnel carriers will more or less coincide with the evening network news in the United States of America," Mr Patten said.
"We don't need so many, and we don't need them coming in such a fashion, by air, land and sea," a Democratic legislator, Ms Emily Lau, said. "I don't think it's necessary, but they like to act the belly."
There are already 196 advance Chinese troops now in place and another 509 will arrive shortly before the handover ceremony at midnight (5 p.m. Irish time) on Monday.