BEIJING, June 21: While China and Britain are yet to reach an agreement on the early deployment of armed Chinese troops in Hong Kong before the hand-over on the midnight of June 30, Chinese military units are rearing to march into the British colony, separated from the Chinese mainland for over 150 years.

China has reportedly asked Britian to allow armed troops from the People's Liberation Army (PLA) to be deployed in Hong Kong before the actual hand-over since Beijing is concerned about the security of senior leaders including President Jiang Zemin and premier Li Peng, who will be present at the hand-over ceremony.

Hong Kong papers report that Britain was surprised by the Chinese demand because such a suggestion had never been made in the past six years of tough negotiations, which led to the recent deal on the three groups of unarmed PLA personnel numbering 196 to be deployed in Hong Kong.

While London has maintained that the stationing of troops was a symbol of sovereignty that was not negotiable, the Hong Kong government has insisted police are responsible for internal security and not the army.

``The troops are for external defence. Nobody suggested there would be any external threat at the hand-over,'' Hong Kong papers quoted a British official reacting to China's demand for early deployment of its troops in Hong Kong.

China has said that it hopes that Britain will adopt a ``sincere attitude'' towards cooperation with the Chinese side to ensure smooth transfer of defence affairs in Hong Kong.

``The Chinese People's Liberation Army will carry out their mission on defence affairs in Hong Kong region from zero hour of July 1, in order to effectively implement the Sino-British joint declaration as well as to fulfill the smooth transfer of defence affairs of Hong Kong,'' a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman told reporters here.

He pointed out that the joint declaration also stipulated that the Chinese Central Government will be in charge of Hong Kong's defence affairs from July 1.

He acknowledged that a final agreement on the timing of deployment of PLA troops in Hong Kong was yet to be finalised but said both sides were in contact to arrive at an agreement so as to ensure a ``smooth transfer of power''.

Meanwhile, the head of China-appointed Legislature for Hong Kong today warned against ``making trouble'' on the night of the territory's return to Chinese rule, saying that all offenders would be arrested.

Changes to Hong Kong's security laws in the early hours of July 1 would not jeopardise order, Provisional Legislature president Rita Fan told reporters in Shenzen.

``This will not effect the rule of law because Hong Kong police will have the same responsibility to maintain law and order,'' she said. ``If somebody is making trouble during that period of time Hong Kong still has a lot of original ordinances to prevent people from doing so,'' she added.

Her comments came amid announcements of a string of protests to be held during the hand-over. Such demonstrations would technically be illegal under laws to be passed by the provisional legislature at about 4 am on July 1 (8 pm GMT June 30), which will be applied retroactively from midnight on June 30.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.