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I was informed yesterday that
Marshal Chiang Kai-shek had instructed
Admiral Yeung Shui-chong, who is in command of the
Chinese Naval forces and is stationed at Foochow,
to attack Canton from the sea: but that
Admiral Yeung had refused to obey this order.
I am also informed that General Chu P'ei-teh, who is the warlord of Kiangsi province, is endeavouring to remain neutral in the quarrel between Nanking
and Canton. General Chu is a native of Yunnan
province, and in July, 1926, distinguished himself
in Hunan and Kiangsi as commander of the Third Northern Expeditionary Army Corps. Since October, 1927, he has been senior commander of the
Nationalist forces in Kiangsi. His neutrality
in the present outbreak of civil war would be of
great value to the Kwangsi group.
5. There are already signs of considerable
unrest in Kuangtung, as the result of the renewal
of civil war, and I shall at once take every
precaution possible in this Colony to exclude
Communists or any other dangerous elements, which
may endeavour to use Hong Kong as a base for
operations against Canton. It is said in the
vernacular newspapers that such dangerous characters as P'ang P'ai, the leader of the Hoi-
Luk-Fung Soviet, to whom you will find references in paragraph 6 and Enclosure No. 1 of my Secret Despatch dated the 6th January, 1928, as well as General Cheung Fat-fui, who was responsible both for the massacres at Canton at Christmas, 1927, and
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