China may be changing but it is still important for the top man to hold all the reins. Jiang is President when he meets Bill Clinton, and secretary-general when the Communist Party meets. But he would not feel secure in either job if he were not also chairman of the Central Military Committee.

Jiang had changed his clothes as well as his title when he stepped on shore: the plain army jacket was a little tight around the waist, but it matched the uniform of the garrison officers escorting him. Reviewing the troops also requires a lexical shift evoking older ideals of unity between the armyand the masses. ``Comrades, you are working very hard,'' Jiang shouted as he passed the crews of several patrol boats at attention. ``It's because we are serving the people,'' they shouted back in unison. He gave the same greeting to some assembled helicopter crews; they gave the same reply.

Out in the new world of mobile phones, private housing and the Shanghai Stock Exchange, most Chinese would snigger at the idea of serving anyone except oneself. To use the term `comrade' has for many years been to risk giving grave offence. But not in the People's Liberation Army (PLA), at least when it is on show.

Stonecutters' Island still has colonial bungalows wreathed in convolvulus and signs pointing in English to the guardroom, left behind when the British pulled out last year. But the slogans are different now. ``Obey the mission entrusted by the motherland,'' reads one. ``Carry out its sacred instructions.''

Speaking to senior officers and guests inside the base headquarters, Jiang recalled the image of thePLA's midnight arrival in Hong Kong a year ago. They might be few in number, he said, but they were the cutting edge of the nation. And echoing an earlier chairman -- Mao Zedong after liberating China in 1949 -- he declared that by taking back Hong Kong, ``the Chinese people have stood up''.

On the mainland, the PLA is not as popular as it used to be: its officers have the best foreign cars and eat in the best hotels. But in Hong Kong they have kept a low profile, and their discipline was exemplary. Contingents from all three services stood at attention for an hour. Then, when Jiang left, they clapped in unison softly for five minutes, until the whole entourage had left.

Something seemed different about Jiang when he re-emerged: he had changed back into the dark suit which makes him look so urbane. He was on his way to open the new airport. It is not a place where the term comrade will often be heard. He put past wrangles aside to acknowledge Britain's role in launching the airport project. Various seniorBritish figures, including Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, on his way to Beijing, said nice things about China, too. Then Jiang took off for home in China One just hours before his new chum Bill Clinton touched down in Airforce One to spend the day in Hong Kong.

-- The Observer News Service