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4. On the 22nd February, Mr. Chu Chao-hsin,
the Commissioner for Foreign Affairs at Canton
telegraphed to me that Marshal Li Chai-sum had
returned from Wuchow on the previous day and would
be "leaving for Nanking not before March 3rd", and that
he hoped that I would pay an unofficial visit to
Canton after the 26th February.
In this connection
please see paragraph 5 of my Secret despatch of the
1st February. It so happened that I had a number
of official engagements already made for dates between
the 26th February and the 3rd March and I, therefore,
replied thanking Marshal Li for his kind invitation
but regretting that it was not possible for me to leave Hong Kong just at present. I had another reason for making this reply, namely, that it seemed to me inadvisable to visit Marshal Li immediately
before he again left for Nanking.
The outlook is
gloomy and obscure; but I should visit Marshal Li at Canton unofficially without hesitation, if I knew that he was likely to remain there for a few months, as this would enable me to have much informal
conversation with him, which would perhaps smoothe the way for subsequent official correspondence and do good by bringing Hong Kong and Canton closer/together. the point of such a visit would be lost, if directly after it Marshal Li left Canton for Nanking.
5.
The prospects of the Kwangsi group are thought by many Chinese to have improved owing to a development of the political situation in the North,
which foreshadows further misfortunes for China as a
whole. The probability of a conflict between
But
Feng