The Hong Kong Garrison of the Chinese People's Liberation Army on Sunday completed the 27th rotation since it began garrisoning Hong Kong in 1997.
Approved by the Central Military Commission (CMC), the move is a routine annual rotation in line with the Law of the People's Republic of China on Garrisoning the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR).
On Sunday, the new personnel passed through the border post in Huanggang Port in south China's Shenzhen City and entered Hong Kong via Lok Ma Chau.
A handover ceremony was held after they arrived at the garrison barracks. After the ceremony, the departing troops returned to the mainland.
"Before arriving at Hong Kong, our officers and soldiers rotating into Hong Kong have studied the basic situation of Hong Kong, laws and regulations, and missions in a targeted manner. We have the confidence and capability to fulfill our defense duties, and will make greater contributions to safeguarding national security, ensuring the long-term prosperity and stability of Hong Kong, and advancing the sound implementation of One Country, Two Systems in the long run in HKSAR," said Liu Lei, an officer from the Hong Kong Garrison.
On Sunday morning, the servicemen of PLA Air Force and Navy departed from the airbase and military port in Guangzhou City and Shenzhen City respectively, and completed the rotation and handover after arriving at Hong Kong.
PLA garrison in Hong Kong completes 27th routine rotation
The 11th Beijing Xiangshan Forum opened in Beijing on Friday morning with hotspots around the world and security cooperation taking the center stage.
The opening ceremony was attended by more than 600 official representatives from over 100 countries and international organizations, including nearly 300 heads of official delegations and officials from various countries. The forum is held with the theme of "Promoting Peace for a shared future".
China's Defense Minister Dong Jun attended the opening ceremony and delivered a keynote speech. He first read out a congratulatory letter from President Xi Jinping to the forum. Then, he mentioned in his speech the current hot issues including the Ukrainian crisis and the ongoing Palestine-Israel conflict.
Dong said "there is no winner in a war and a conflict, and there is no way out if we just confront each other." He also stressed that promoting peace talks is the only way out, and the fundamental way out.
Two plenary sessions were held after the opening ceremony. At the first session, participants exchanged views on "security cooperation and prosperity and stability in the Asia-Pacific region", and official representatives from Vietnam, Singapore, Pakistan, Fiji, Russia and Malaysia spoke at the meeting.
The theme of the second plenary session was "multipolarization and the direction of international order", and defense ministers or military generals from six countries including Cambodia, Tanzania, Cameroon and Iran delivered speeches.
The topics all focus on security hotspots. Participants include not only developing and developed countries, but also representatives, experts and scholars from the closely-watched countries such as the United States, Russia, and Ukraine.
In interviews, many participants said that the Beijing Xiangshan Forum is committed to promoting dialog, exchanges and cooperation among defense agencies, militaries and international organizations of various countries, and is playing an active role in promoting regional security and stability and maintaining world peace and development.
The ongoing Beijing Xiangshan Forum, which runs until Saturday, will also hold eight parallel group sessions, focusing on themes such as the correct way for China and the United States to get along, European security trends and Middle East peace vision. This year, a new session on outer space security has been set up for participants to jointly discuss issues on outer space security governance.
Initiated in 2006, the Beijing Xiangshan Forum is a high-level security and defense forum in the Asia-Pacific with significant international influence.
11th Beijing Xiangshan Forum opens with focus on hotspots, security cooperation
