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PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

C.O.882/11

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

C. 30001/27 B. [No. 7].

34

No. 9.

The Governor of Hong Kong to the Secretary of State for the C'olonies.

(Secret.) SIR.

(Received 14th May, 1027.)

Government House, Hong Kong, 8th April, 1927.

With reference to paragraph 3 of my secret despatch of the 18th March, I have the honour to forwardt translations from the Canton vernacular press of a recent declaration by General Tseung Kai-shek on the one hand, and on the other of an exegesis of Kuomin tang history by Mr. Sun Fo. Neither document is very intelligible in detail. Much is deliberate word-spinning with intent to conceal unpleasant facts, much is sheer confusion and crudity of thought so common to all "half-baked revolutionaries" (to use His Majesty's Minister's phrase) not excluding the great Sun Yat-sen himself whose "Three Aspects of Democracy is almost comic in its blindness to the implications of its own arguments. Read in the light of actual events these documents are, however, clear confirmation of the view expressed in the despatch referred to above, that the Hankow clique seeks safety in division, while the Nan-chang clique seeks strength in unity of control. Neither is to be trusted an inch, but the latter may be less fanatical in its hostility.

"

2. Mr. Wong Tseng-wai, who is referred to in the first of the documents mentioned in the preceding paragraph, was at one time Chairman of the Kwang-tung Provincial Soviet, and has been fre- quently mentioned in my despatches to you during the first half of last year. He went into more or less compulsory retirement in May, 1926, owing to a difference of opinion with General Tseung over the place of Communism in the Nationalist programme. Recently there has been persistent clamour from the Hankow extremists for his return, the object being to find a member of the Kuomintang of sufficient standing to form a counterpoise to General Tseung. Mr. Wong has indeed returned to political life in response to this call: but he is at the moment in Shanghai and appears to be working as- much with General Tseung and the Nan-chang clique as with Hankow. A Press reportt of his recent activities is attached. I attach also translationt of an extract from the Wa Tsz Yat Po of the 28th March containing telegrams exchanged between the Kuomintang Municipal Department at Chang-sha and General Tseung at Nan-chang.

3. I also enclose a translationt from the Kwok Man San Man, Canton, of the 18th March containing a typical misrepresentation of the action taken by the police in respect of the offensive placards exhibited on the s.s. Fatshan on the anniversary of Dr. Sun Yat-sen's death (see paragraph 2 of the despatch mentioned above). The docu- ment may be a pure fabrication, but the title assigned to the alleged authors is significant. It is always the peasants who are to rise, as they did in Russia, and complete the revolution by overthrowing Capitalism and Imperialism,

* No 7.

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4. With regard to paragraph 3 of my secret despatch of the 1st April, it should be pointed out that neither this Government nor the companies concerned have any objection to the allotment of a room on the river steamers for the recreation of the Chinese crew, provided an undertaking is given that the concession will not be used for the purpose of defeating the regulations forbidding What is political meetings or to the discomfort of passengers. objected to is the peremptory demand unaccompanied by any guaran- tee as to use, and its attempted enforcement by a lightning strike.

5. With reference to paragraph 4 of my despatch of the 1st April* reporting the closure of the General Labour Union, I enclose a report from the Kwok Man San Man, Canton, of the 29th March, confirming In this the view taken here as to the objects of its resuscitation. connection it is interesting to note that, according to reports from Shanghai, General Tseung Kai-shek on 30th March took similar action against the General Labour Union there for the same reasons and that the "clash resulted in eight being killed and seventy wounded" -a pleasing lesson in tenderness towards labour for the brutal im- perialist. I also invite attention to Sir S. Barton's telegram to the Foreign Office No. 116 of the 6th April reporting that the General Labour Union of Shanghai has promised protection to seditionists, who are planning further political assassinations in the International Settlement as well as attempts to seduce the Indian troops stationed

I have, etc.,

there.

C. 30001/27 B. [No. 8].

No. 10.

C. CLEMENTI,

Governor, etc.

The Governor of Hong Kong to the Secretary of State for the Colonies. (Received 18th May, 1927.)

(Secret.) SIR,

Government House, Hong Kong, 14th April, 1927.

I have the honour to confirm my telegram of the 14th April. At the moment, apart from the continued suspense as to the action which Great Britain, the United States of America, France, Japan, and Italy will take with respect to the Nanking outrages, all other issues are overshadowed by the struggle between the extreme and moderate sections of the Nationalist party. If the extremists win the day, it will mean that the Reds have succeeded in creating a solid belt of Bolshevism from the Baltic across Russia, Siberia, Mon- golia, and Kansu into Southern China, and they will then be ready and able to move further south through Indo-China to Malaya along the flank of India. Despite thousands of years of culture China con- taine, as did France in 1789, and Russia in 1917, masses of savagely illiterate and indigent "have nots" to whort any doctrine of con- fiscation makes an irresistible appeal. To-morrow's consequences are

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• No. 8.

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