China sends fresh troops to Hong Kong as city remains on edge

Chief executive hints at invoking sweeping emergency powers

20190829N PLA soldier in front of Xi billboard

A People's Liberation Army Navy soldier stands in front of a bilboard featuring Chinese President Xi Jinping in Hong Kong. © Reuters

TAKESHI KIHARA, Nikkei staff writer

August 30, 2019 01:45 JST

HONG KONG -- The Chinese military has swapped its garrison in Hong Kong with fresh troops, a move it claims is part of a regular rotation but has alarmed the city's demonstrators who saw it as a sign that Beijing's stepping up its intimidation tactics.

China's state-run Xinhua News Agency published photos Thursday of military trucks and tanks driving into Hong Kong from Shenzhen, as well as of naval troops arriving at a wharf in the semi-autonomous city that has been wracked by protests for more than 80 days.