In comparison with the troops on the Chinese Mainland, the PLA Hong Kong Garrison has to deal with quite a number of special circumstances when carrying out defense missions---one of them being the "special relations between the military and the local government ". According to the Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the PRC and the Garrison Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the PRC, the PLA Hong Kong Garrison is not under the command of the government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and they shouldn't interfere with each other's business, and yet, they are required to respect and support each other. The officers and men of the garrison are not allowed to contact or associate with the residents of Hong Kong as one pleases, but should carry out the fine tradition of showing loving care to and cherishing the local people.

　　How have they fared in dealing with such special military-government and military-civilian relations over the past decade? It can be epitomized in the word--harmony.

　　In the past decade, the garrison has made it a rule to carry out the event of "regulations and laws month" every year to strengthen the awareness of the officers and men in implementing the regulations and laws. To avoid disturbing the local people, the garrison has given up the practice of using bugles as orders as they do on the Chinese Mainland and therefore, no sound of bugles can be heard in the barracks. The Air Force has done its best to avoid flight training at the rest time or in the densely populated areas in order to free the local people from noise disturbances. Taking into consideration the residents' swimming and recreational needs, the Naval Force has picked the wee hours of the morning to do training on the beach and wrap it up on the early morning.

　　Frequent contacts yield closer relations between relatives, and more exchange and communication increase common grounds. Over the past decade, the garrison opened its barracks to Hong Kong residents 13 times, receiving over 270,000 person/times of visits, organized 5,500 odd person/times to participate in the voluntary tree-planting activities in Hong Kong and have planted over 30,000 trees, organized more than 3,600 person/times of blood donation and donated 1.59 million ml of blood, attended festive celebration events and theatrical performances organized by the government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region for 30 odd times, and dispatched officers and men to visit the elderly in the nursing and caring centers of Hong Kong on separate occasions. Through those events, the garrison has got increasingly integrated into the Hong Kong society and enhanced the understanding of the Hong Kong residents about the garrison.

　　Over the past decade, upon the invitation of the government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the PLA Hong Kong Garrison participated in nine maritime rescue exercises over air disasters. On last July 12, the garrison conducted the first perils-of-the-sea rescue exercise jointly with the Maritime Affair Department of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government as well as the Flying Service Team, the Maritime Police and the Fire Fighting Department of Hong Kong. On November 12 last year, the garrison held a joint military-police rescue exercise with the Police Affairs Department of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government.

　　Over the past decade, the garrison also received visits to the garrison by foreign military attaches to China and carried out exchanges with foreign officers and men who were in Hong Kong with their visiting aircraft and ships. Through those events, the garrison has not only made known publicly China's sovereignty over Hong Kong and enhanced the exchanges and understandings, but also displayed its good image of a mighty and civilized force that loves Hong Kong and cherishes the Hong Kong people.

　　By Zhong Youguo and Gao Jiquan

　　(Jun 29, PLA Daily)