7
endeavouring to test the accuracy of this information;
but my impression is that no real help can be expected
from Marshal Sun as regards Cantonese affairs for
a considerable time, if at all.
4.
The position at Canton itself is not yet very clear to me. There is no doubt that the present de facto Government is a Soviet of the
Russian type with Mr. Wong Tsing-wai as Chairman
and Dr. C.C.Wu (a son of the late Mr. du Ting-fang)
as its principal foreign adviser, while Mr. Sung
Tsz-man is in control of financial affairs. I doubt
whether any of these three could properly be described
as "Red", but they have certainly been under
Russian influence; they have been financed with
Russian money; Russian military officers have
trained their troops, and munitions of war have been
supplied to them from Russia via Vladivostock.
At least two members of the Canton Soviet, namely Mr. Chan Kung-pok and Mr. Tam Peng-shan are undoubtedly "Red" and so was Mr. Liu Chung -hoi, who has recently
been assassinated. The forces of the Canton
Government are mainly under the command of General
Cheung Kai-shek who is said to be a professional
soldier and not a politician. I can get no
reliable information concerning him, and I do not
know how far he is under Bolshevik influence. His
troops have certainly been drilled and equipped by
Russians.
5.
As regards the Russians themselves,
there is again no reliable evidence, but I believe
the truth to be that they do not exceed 200 in
number and may even be as few as 50, and that both
their numbers and their influence have of late been
steadily
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