CHINA: People's Liberation Army opens the doors of its Stonecutter Island barracks in Hong Kong to the public amid simmering tensions in South China Sea, in a move also seen as a move to connect with local residents

Record ID: 229239

  • Title: CHINA: People's Liberation Army opens the doors of its Stonecutter Island barracks in Hong Kong to the public amid simmering tensions in South China Sea, in a move also seen as a move to connect with local residents
  • Date: 28th April 2012
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (English) BEIJING-BORN HONG KONG RESIDENT, MRS. WANG, SAYING: "I think it's useful. People here are enjoying themselves, you can see their happy face and I think it created better communication. The kids are happy, they're not the toy guns anymore it's the real ones. Kind of a like a theme park kind of thing." VARIOUS OF HONG KONG-BORN PLA ARMY CAMP GRADUATES G
  • Embargoed: 13th May 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: China, Hong Kong, China
  • City:
  • Country: Hong Kong
  • Topics: Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA7WEF82M7FWGTESWLSGV341FIG
  • Story Text: China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) opened the doors of its Stonecutter Island barracks in Hong Kong to the public on Saturday (April 28), in a move to connect more with local residents.
    Several thousands of people attended the open day, the first of three, where visitors climbed aboard warships, toured helicopters, posed with army personnel and handled real weapons while the army put on several displays from marching bands to martial arts.
    One couple, who live in Hong Kong but are originally from mainland China, said it was the first time they had seen PLA weaponry up close and thought the open day was a great way to dispel some of the suspicion felt by Hong Kong residents towards the Chinese army.
    "I think it's useful. People here are enjoying themselves, you can see their happy face and I think it created better communication. The kids are happy, they're not the toy guns any more, it's the real ones. Kind of a like a theme park kind of thing," said bank employee, Mrs. Wang.
    "And I think that is, I want to learn more about the Chinese army. Maybe it's a little bit mysterious and maybe Hong Kong people not much know about it. So I think in this camp I could know more about the Chinese army and related Chinese history and know more about our home country," said 17-year-old Alex Chen who was volunteering at the event.
    But the open days come amid simmering tensions in the South China Sea Last week, China's military warned the United States that U.S.-Philippine military exercises have raised risks of armed confrontation over contested waters in the South China Sea, the toughest high-level warning yet after weeks of tension.
    The United States and the Philippines launched two weeks of annual war games on the western island of Palawan amid the standoff between Chinese and Philippine vessels near Scarborough Shoal in another part of the South China Sea, west of a former U.S. navy base at Subic Bay.
    "What we see as worrying is a regional military build-up. So the PLA is using South China Sea tensions as a pretext to justify its modernisation even though the PLA is not involved in most incidents on the sea, those are law enforcement officials, uh, law enforcement vessels. At the same time countries like Vietnam and the Philippines are building up their own militaries and law enforcement potential," said Stephanie Kleine-Ahlbrandt, project director for Northeast Asia of Crisisgroup, and non-governmental organization that last week launched a report warning of the escalating tensions in the region.
    Since the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region 15 years ago, the PLA has held various open days and more than 300,000 visitors have poured through the gates of military sites since the handover from British colonial rule in 1997.
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