CO537-2192 — Page 81

THE FUTURE OF HONG KONG KU OMINTANG INFILTRATION

HONG KONG, October 1946.

Does GREAT BRITAIN intend to retain HONG KONG? This is a question which is being asked here with increasing insistence by well- informed Britons, and by British subjects of Chinese birth, who watch with alarm the unchecked infiltration of KUOMINTANG influence into the Colony. Expediency may have dictated a soft and conciliatory policy immediately following the British re-occupation. We permitted Chinese troops to be assembled in KOWLOON for shipment North, and allotted KOWLOON- TONG, a Garden City, for their accommodation. It was not a happy decision. The presence of ill-disciplined Chinese troops meant the presence also of Chinese Gendarmerie, and only almost inhuman patience prevented serious incidents during the period of the regrouping of CHINA's Southern armies. They left KOWLOONTONG on August 15, removing with them all the plumbing, electric fixtures and everything else movable, including much of the floor- ing and doors, as well as a number of stolen British "jeeps" and trucks.

CHINA Las never been represented in HONG KONG by a Consular official. She has been represented since the reoccupation by the

Commis- sioner for Foreign Affairs of KWANGTUNG and KWANGSI, whose proper office is in CANTON, but who spends most of his time in a suite of offices in the HONG KONG & SHANGHAI Bank Building in HONG KONG. He is regarded by local Chinese as their spokesman and leader.

Prior to 1941 the KUOMINTANG (CHINA's National and Nationalisti political party) was not permitted to function openly in HONG KONG. Today, the HONG KONG and MACAO Branch Office of the KUOMINTANG occupies premi ses in one of the main thoroughfares. It has at its head one LI Tai chao who has a finger in nearly every pie, including strikes, and other labout disputes and the Press.

Chinese educational authorities have established in the Colony a HONG KONG and MACAO Overseas Educational Bureau, which is now insidiously working to control all Chinese educational institutions here. An inter- cepted letter disclosed the fact that the KWANGTULG Provincial Educational Department had ordered the HONG KONG Bureau tokeep under close supervision three "traitorous" teachers who had been appointed to one of the local schools. They were classified as "traitorous", apparently, because they did not submit to the orders of the KWANG TUNG Department,

Numerous other KUOMINTANG agencies are functioning, some openly, some secretly, in HONG KONG. And ever since the British reoccupa- tion strenuous attempts have been made to acquire control of the entire vernacular press. The test case of British control over her Colony seems likely to arise out of the ownership and conduct of the "WAH KIU YAT PO" by far the most influential of the local Chinese papers, with a circulation exceeding that of all other dailies combined. This paper continued publication under the Japanese occupation, with its principal owner, Mr.SHUM Wai Yu in control. He could not, of course, openly print anti-Japanese articles, but by a clever editorial policy he succeeded in conveying the real facts about the war to dscerning readers. He would, for instance, print an editorial flaying REUTER or the ASSOCIATED Fress for daring to publish such fantastic reports of, say, the Battle of Midway, giving the essential details of their stories and then printing the Japanese version. That the Japanese regarded him with suspicion was shown by the fact that delivery of the paper to Prisoners' of War or Internment Camps was prohi- bited. But i was frequently smuggled in, and as a result Mr.SHUM, on October 1, 1945, received a letter fom Mr.K.A.C. Forth, Secretary for Chinese Affairs, paying a tribute to the manner in which he had managed to give reliable news, publication of which had done much to keep up the

internees' spirite.