CO537-3713 — Page 9

filed on 14349/4/48

EXTRACT FROM "REVIEW OF THE CHINESE FACTOR IN SOUTH

EAST ASIA"

TOP SECRET

(Information received up to 20th September, 1948.)

14

A. KUOMINTANG

1. General

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Review No. 17

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It is now confirmed, from a delicate but very reliable source, that towards the middle of July the K.M.T. Overseas Affairs Department in Nanking gave explicit instructions to develop party activities through cover organisations, and that this policy was not to be limited to the Federation and Singapore, but would be general throughout South East Asia and possibly elsewhere. The identity of K.M.T. leaders, according to these instructions, is to be concealed and they, in their own persons, are to refrain from all overt activities. The practice of freely reporting party matters in the press is to be discontinued. The penetration of overseas Chinese organisations is to be developed so that these bodies can be used as a cover behind which to exert such pressure on the authorities as the K.M.T. may desire. Such are Nanking's instructions; it is questionable, however, whether they can be fully implemented. The K.M.T.'s continued existence amongst overseas communities is largely dependent on the ability of party branches to collect funds, on one pretext or another, from nationalist-minded Chinese. Success in this has been achieved by the bestowal of certificates of achievement, the granting of impressive titles and similar devices which would not be effective unless accompanied by the appropriate ballyhoo. An alternative would be to utilize such quasi-national organisations as the Commission of Overseas Affairs, but as these have already become practically identified with the K.M.T. they could provide little cover.

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蕙

KMT