CONFIDENT I AL
moment is engaged on a raid into Yunnan. The soldiers were told that they would be raiding "three days march into Yunnan".
KMT COMMUNICATIONS
4. As you will know the KMT runs an extensive intelligence net by putting down one man in each village to keep an eye on things and run a shop. The KMT house in the Yao village had several soldiers with rifles in the doorway as we went past. There was also a radio aerial and I am told that a generator has recently been installed to provide power for the set. The radio is capable of reaching General Tuan's camp in Mac Solong and other similar radio stations including Chiang Khong. (It may be of interest that the KMT apparently use Royal Thai Army radio sets. I spoke to a wireless repair man in Chiang Mai who said that on one occasion two KMT brought in a couple of wireless sets for repair. The police subsequently entered his shop and charged him with stealing Thai Army property. He replied that they belonged to the KMT and the matter went up far enough in the police hierarchy for it to be established that this was the case. The police colonel in question then asked the KMT why they had not followed the agreed procedure for the repair of their wireless sets and taken them to the police repair shop. The KMT replied that the official procedure took too long and they needed the wirelesses back quickly and my informant could repair them within 24 hours. The correct procedure which needed signatures from the Governor of the province and the head of the police region took over a month.)
KMT ASSISTANCE WITH THE INSURGENCY PROBLEM
5. We subsequently went to Chiang Saen for a meal and the Yao said that General Tuan's troops who are assisting the Thai Government to fight the insurgents in Chiang Khong were burning off the vegetation on Doi Luang to deny it to the Communists. They had however been taking a number of casualties because the Communists were booby trapping the trees.
LONFIDENT
L B Smith