An unprecedented security blanket involving elite bodyguards, a 50-strong motorcade, ballistic briefcases and machine guns has been thrown around Hong Kong for President Xi Jinping’s visit for the 25th anniversary of the city’s return to Chinese rule, the Post has learned.

Security was raised to the maximum when Xi, 69, and his wife Peng Liyuan, 59, arrived in Hong Kong on Thursday for the two-day trip to mark the handover anniversary as authorities mobilised all law enforcement agencies to protect the Chinese president and his entourage from terrorist attacks.

The couple was escorted by elite officers from the force’s VIP protection unit, formerly known as G4, along with personal bodyguards from the Central Security Bureau as they arrived at the West Kowloon high-speed rail terminus on a special train from Shenzhen shortly after 3pm.