Beijing has stationed troops in Hong Kong since 1997, after China regained control of the former British colony, but they are rarely seen outside of their barracks.
But in their second high-profile appearance on the streets of Hong Kong in 22 years, People's Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers streamed out of their camps on Saturday to remove roadblocks set up by anti-government protesters.
While not military in nature, the exercise served as a gentle warning to activists in the highly autonomous Chinese city who have grown increasingly confrontational in pressing their political demands, said Anthony Wong, a Macau-based military expert.
Wearing shorts and holding brooms and buckets, about 50 soldiers made no effort to hide their roles in the Chinese military.
Some soldiers wore basketball jerseys with the logo of "Special Forces, the Eighth Company" or "Xuefeng Special Operations Brigade."
These are two first-class brigades of the PLA established to fight terrorism or conduct special operations.
Xuefeng, one of China's leading counterterrorism brigades, is part of the Western Theater Command, overseeing a vast area in the west of China, including Xinjiang and Tibet, according to earlier reports by the PLA Daily, the mouthpiece of China's military.
In 2010, its troops took part in a joint counterterrorism drill in a mountainous region of northern Pakistan, close to the border with Afghanistan. The exercise involved a range of scenarios, including dealing with hostage situations.
Information about the movements and deployments of China's military units is closely guarded, so it is unknown how long the soldiers from the Xuefeng brigade have been stationed in Hong Kong.
Pro-democracy lawmakers have accused the garrison of breaching the Basic Law, the constitutional document underpinning Hong Kong's status as a special administrative region of China, as well as the Garrison Law.
The laws state that the garrison "shall not interfere in local affairs" and must tell the Hong Kong government in advance for "military activities such as training or maneuvers involving public interests."
Alternatively, the laws say the Hong Kong government can ask the PLA for its assistance to keep public order or help in disaster relief measures.
In October 2018, more than 400 PLA soldiers stationed in the city were deployed to clean up country parks and remove trees felled during a devastating storm, the first such deployment of the garrison since Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule.
In both cases, the local government said it had not requested the army's help and that the garrison had volunteered its services.
Hong Kong's security chief, John Lee, has said the PLA could freely decide on whether to send soldiers to perform volunteer services outside military sites.
Earlier this week, an American congressional advisory body said the US Congress should enact legislation that would suspend the special economic status of Hong Kong if China used military force to crush the protests.
Professor Zeng Zhiping, a military law expert at Soochow University and a retired PLA lieutenant colonel, dismissed the lawmakers' criticism, saying it was clear the soldiers were not carrying out any military activities.
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