CO129-498-3 Canton boycott- prospects of restoring normal conditions 20-12-1925 - 24-12-1925 — Page 5

4.

(d) The power of the sword in the Kuang-ung Pro- vince rests apparently with General Cheung Kai-

shek, concerning whom I know very little. He has

for several weeks been away from Canton; and he is now, I believe, at Swatow. I do not know whether

he is loyal to it. Wong Tsing-wai and the Canton

if Council of Government. If he is not, and he is

really under Russian Bolshevik influence, he may

perhaps by force of arms make himself dictator at Canton, divert to his own war-chest any

payment made by the Hongkong merchants to the

Canton Strike Committee and continue the boycott.

I do not myself consider this contingency at

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all likely, but it is not beyond the realm of

possibility.

then

Is there any means of ending the

boycott without paying blackmail to the Strike

Committee? I confess that the only means that

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I can see would be the use of armed force, military

or naval. In my last despatch I explained that I

saw little chance of the overthrow of the present

nominal Government of Canton in the near future

either by the Chinese Navy or by any Chinese General from another Province. It is not to be expected that

any European Powers will attack Canton for the

purpose of ending a boycott from which some of

them actually derive commercial advantage and from which none of them suffer as acutely as Great Britain. While, as regards the employment of British naval and military force to end the boycott, I am firmly of the opinion that whatever temporary relief

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might be obtained in Canton, Hongkong and Swatow, from such action would bery soon be lost in consequence

of

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of