Enclo.No. 1.
- 5 -
95
appears certain; and Wong is freely accused of
treachery in securing the removal of Li Chai-sum
at the critical time. It is no doubt useless to
speculate how far Wong was sincere in attempting to reconcile the Nanking faction and his own: but it
seems clear that his followers hope rather to set up in Canton an independent Kuomintang in which they will hold the chief offices. They are likely to find this difficult since a general meeting of the party requires
a quorum of 19 members of the Central Executive
Committee and the Inspecting body, and it is said that Wong cannot muster more than 15 at the most; but
whether they find a quorum or not, the result will
merely emphasize the tendency of the Kuomintang to
dissolve into factions.
8*
Representatives of General Li Chai-sum, who
are anxious that General Wong Shiu-hung should return
at once to his forces on the West River, approached me
through Sir Shouson Chow to grant them an interview.
I granted it on the 22nd November and enclose a
memorandum of the conversation thereat. The request
made could not be granted but the incident was not without positive value in that it afforded me an oppor-
tunity of impressing again the necessity for the main-
tenance of neutrality, and at the same time or reiterat-
ing our earnest desire for friendly relations of any
Rind that might work to the mutual benefit of China
and Hong Kong.
Enclo, No. 2 9.
I attach a short account of the careers of
some of the military commanders concerned in the
recent coup.
10./