CO129-512-1 Political situation in China- and Canton 30-11-1928 - 23-5-1929 — Page 72

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I was informed yesterday that

Marshal Chiang Kai-shek had instructed

Admiral Yeung Shui-chong, who is in command of the

Chinese Naval forces and is stationed at Foochow,

to attack Canton from the sea: but that

Admiral Yeung had refused to obey this order.

I am also informed that General Chu P'ei-teh, who is the warlord of Kiangsi province, is endeavouring to remain neutral in the quarrel between Nanking

and Canton. General Chu is a native of Yunnan

province, and in July, 1926, distinguished himself

in Hunan and Kiangsi as commander of the Third Northern Expeditionary Army Corps. Since October, 1927, he has been senior commander of the

Nationalist forces in Kiangsi. His neutrality

in the present outbreak of civil war would be of

great value to the Kwangsi group.

5. There are already signs of considerable

unrest in Kuangtung, as the result of the renewal

of civil war, and I shall at once take every

precaution possible in this Colony to exclude

Communists or any other dangerous elements, which

may endeavour to use Hong Kong as a base for

operations against Canton. It is said in the

vernacular newspapers that such dangerous characters as P'ang P'ai, the leader of the Hoi-

Luk-Fung Soviet, to whom you will find references in paragraph 6 and Enclosure No. 1 of my Secret Despatch dated the 6th January, 1928, as well as General Cheung Fat-fui, who was responsible both for the massacres at Canton at Christmas, 1927, and

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