104
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
TEC.O.882/11
i n
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ever to be recognized as a Nationalist Government, or even as representative of the city or province of Canton, and he regards that Government as being in the nature of a military dictatorship supported by Soviet agents and supplied with Soviet arms and ammunition. With regard to these matters I may remark-
(a) that the recently reconstituted Government in Canton does not appear to differ in any marked respect from that
which preceded it. "Plus cela change, plus c'est la même
chose." Ever since I first knew the Canton Government in November last, its dominant figure has been General Cheung Kai-shek. You will remember that Mr. Sun Fo said to me on 29th March: --" General Cheung Kai-shek is the power (Please see my secret behind the Canton Government.' despatch of the 29th March).* For propaganda purposes it suited the aims of the Canton Government to represent itself as being a civil government of which General Cheung was only the servant. But in point of fact real power in Kuang- tung, as is at present the case in all other parts of China, including Peking, rests with the chief military commander whenever he chooses to assert himself.
(b) The support given by Soviet agents to the Canton Government and the supply to it of Soviet arms and ammuni- These things have gone on for tion are nothing new. months past. Jacob Borodin was Soviet adviser to the Canton Government in -November last. He absented himself for his own purposes from Canton during a brief period, and he is now back again in his old post. Soviet arms and ammuni- tion were being supplied to the Canton Government in November last. The supply ceased for a short time, while the Bolshevists considered whether the large outlay (at that date estimated already to amount to $10,000,000) was justi- fied for such apparently small results. The Bolshevists have now evidently decided that their one remaining hope of success in China is to give General Cheung Kai-shek full support in his campaign against Marshal Wu Pei-fu. Accordingly Soviet arms and ammunition are again pouring into Canton.
(c) As regards the expulsion of Mr. C. C. Wu from Canton, Mr. Brenan and I regard that event with unmixed satisfac- tion. So far from being a moderating influence at Canton, he was, we think, the chief obstacle to a settlement of the anti-British boycott: and it has been interesting to find that our view is shared by his subordinate, Mr. Fu Peng-sheung, who absconded from Canton with him. Mr. Wong Tseng- wai did, it is true, make a few half-hearted efforts to open negotiations with me: but I do not regard his departure as a loss from the British point of view, while Mr. Sun Fo, who moderate would, I suppose, be in Sir Ronald's opinion a element" in the Canton Government, has stepped into Mr.
* C 9510/28; not printed.
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C. C. Wu's shoes for the time being. Mr. Eugene Ch'ên may be, as Sir Ronald says, a dangerous and unscrupulous ad- venturer "-although I do not know the evidence on which this description of him is founded-but he is more friendly to us than his predecessors in office, and Mr. Brenan finds him much more pleasant and satisfactory to deal with than was Mr. C. C. Wu.
*+
(d) There is no doubt that General Cheung Kai-shek is now in complete control of Canton city, and he is certainly a greater power in the Kuang-tung Province than anyone else. In this respect his position is very similar to that of other War Lords" in other parts of China. At all events, the reconstituted Government in Canton" is quite as repre- sentative of the city and province of Canton as was the previous Canton Soviet, to which General Cheung has just applied a purge, while the claim of the Canton Governments, past and present, to be regarded as the Nationalist Govern- ment of China has never been serious. The Cantonese officials themselves make a joke of it: and it is no more than a pious aspiration. The claim is, however, nothing new, and Mr. Eugene Ch'ên has merely succeeded to an office formerly occupied by Mr. Wu Hon-man.
(e) It is well to remember that, as already reported by Mr. Brenan, Mr. Eugene Ch’ên does not ask for de jure recogni- tion of his Government, but only desires the same treatment as given to the corresponding official in Peking during time of non-recognition.
(f) Moreover, Mr. Eugene Ch'ên has notified the Consular Body at Canton in a circular,* of which I attach a copy, that the provincial post of Commissioner for Foreign Affairs, which was previously the channel by which consuls communi- cated with the Canton Government, has been abolished, and that the " Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Nationalist Government of Canton will in future deal directly with the consular body. The consuls will, therefore, be compelled to address their letters to "The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Canton,' as there is no one else with whom to communicate, and Mr. Brenan will have to follow this procedure if he is to act as intermediary for this Government, as suggested by Sir R. Macleay. I may here observe that the Foreign Office has, in the past, been insistent that His Majesty's Consul-General at Canton is the proper channel for communications between the Hongkong Government and the Canton authorities, and that it is not desirable for the Governor of Hongkong to address direct communications to the Canton Government. In this connection, please see Mr. L. Harcourt's Confidential despatch of the 10th August, 1911, covering a copy of Foreign Office letter, No. 26864 of the 24th July, 1911, which says:
It is open to objection and contrary to precedent
• Enclosure 1. † 24512/11; not printed here
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
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