CO129-498-2 Canton boycott- opening of negotiations with the Canton Government 2-11-1925 - 23-12-1925 — Page 4

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NO. SECRET.

NUMBER AND DATE SHOULD

BE QUOTED IN REFERENCE

TO THIS LETTER

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08

Sir,

PRINTED

*

FOR

USE

Zaslum 144

COLONIEL

OF

OFFICE

GOVERNMENT HOUSE,

HONGKONG,

23rd December,1925.190

When I arrived here on November 1st,

I made it my chief duty to inform myself at once as to the political situation in China generally and at Canton in particular. On the 6th November I exchanged visits of ceremony with Admiral Li

Ching-hsi, who is in command of the Chinese

•

cruiser squadron in these waters, and whose flagship is the "Hai Yung" Since then I have met him

informally on several occasions. He stated that

he was under the orders of Admiral Yang, whom I have not yet seen and whose headquarters appear to be at Shanghai. I asked Admiral Li to tell me

from whom Admiral Yang gets his orders, and he replied vaguely: "From the Minister of Marine at

Peking"; but he subsequently informed me that the Minister of Marine "had run away, and I infer that the Chinese Navy is now a law unto itself. However, Admiral Li,upon whose instructions I do not know, regards the present de facto Government at Canton

as a rebel Government, and he considers himself to

be at war with it. He accordingly maintained until recently a cruiser patrol at the mouth of the West River with the object of preventing arms and ammunition from reaching the Canton Governmont, and he also

made

THE RIGHT HONOURABLE

LIEUTENANT COLONEL L.C.M.S. AMERY, M.P.,

&c.

&C.,

&c.,