CO129-437 - Public Offices - 1916 — Page 152

[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty's Government.]

AFFAIRS OF CHINA.

CONFIDENTIAL.

14209 REC

RECE 4 WAR 15

No. 1.

150

[February 22.]

SECTION 2.

([34464]

(No. 31.) Sir,

Sir J. Jordan to Sir Edward Grey.-(Received February 22.)

Peking, January 26, 1916. IN continuation of my despatches Nos. 6 and 22, I have the honour to report further on the progress of the Yunnan movement, and to convey a correct appreciation of the present situation. I cannot do better than enclose a memorandum by Mr. Teichman, who has an intimate knowledge of the country and was stationed at Chengtu in 1911, when the Yunnan troops invaded Szechuan and followed precisely the same tactics which they are repeating in the present campaign.

It will be seen that the Yunnan troops have advanced into the province of Szechuan, and that their objective seems to be Chungking and the possession of the upper waters of the Yang-tsze, which would give them a position of considerable strategic value. Mr. Teichman computes that there are at least 12,000 northern troops in Szechuan under the Military Governor, Ch'en Yi, who is a trusted servant of Yuan Shih-kai, and these, with the expeditionary force of some 20,000 men, now on its way up the river, should, if properly handled, be able to cope with the situation, unless there are large defections on the part of the Szechuan troops. To guard against this, Yuan Shih-kai is, I understand, making use of a weapon which plays an important part in all revolutionary movements in China, and is prepared to offer substantial inducements to troops which remain faithful to him or which care to transfer their allegiance to his cause. On the other hand, the loss of prestige which the President has suffered by the enforced abandonment of his monarchical programme and the justification which this action has given to the separatist movement, have undoubtedly improved the chances of the revolutionaries, and made the suppression of the revolt a far more serious task than it was at the outset. Outwardly, there has been little change in the attitude of the neighbouring provinces, although in Kueichow, where the Governor has been removed from his post, popular feeling appears to lean to the side of Yunnan. At Canton, as in Peking, the maintenance of order depends entirely upon the life of one man, and that life exposed to the attempts of many enemies. One odd and rather disquieting feature of the Canton situation is that General Lung is himself a native of Yünnan, and that more than half of his troops belong to that province, but he himself seems confident that they will obey his orders.

I take this opportunity of enclosing copy of the joint despatch in which the two Governors of Yunnan notified His Majesty's consul-general of the independence of the province, as also copy of a note which they addressed to me on the same subject.

I have, &c.

J. N. JORDAN.

Enclosure 1 in No. 1.

Yurman Rebellion: Memorandum on the Present Position on the Yunnan-Szechuan Frontier.

THE strength of the troops in Yünnan before the outbreak of the rebellion amounted at the outside to 20,000 modernly trained and equipped inen, ie, the 1st Division a Yünuan-fu and Tali (General Chang Tzu-chen), the 2nd Division at Mengtzu (General Liu Tsu-wu), and various miscellaneous garrisons. In Kueichow there were about 10,000, ie., the 1st Division at Kueiyang and various miscellaneous detachments. In Szechuan there were possibly 20,000 (exclusive of the frontier force in the Thibetan Marches, 7,000 strong); of these at least 12,000 were northern troops, who accompanied the new Governor, General Ch'en Yi, to the province last May; these northern troops had their head-quarters at Chungking, Chengtu, and Mienchou (north of Chengtu).

There are two main roads from Yunnan to the Yang-taze and Szechuan, (1) from Yunnan-fu through Tungchuan and Chaotung to Suifu, and (2) from Yunnan-fu through Chuching, Hsuanwei, Weining, and Yungning to Luchow. There is one main

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