COMMUNISTS OCCUPY CANTON

Press, Volume LXXXV, Issue 25936, 17 October 1949, Page 7

COMMUNISTS OCCUPY CANTON

Armies Advance To Border Of Hong Kong Territory PREPARATIONS REPORTED FOR KWANGSI CAMPAIGN (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 10.30 p.m.) HONG KONG, October 15. The Chinese Communists have occupied Canton, reached the gateway to the Kwangsi Province, and raised their flag on the border of the New Territories—the mainland area of the British colony of Hong Kong. Canton, until a few days ago, was the seat of the Chinese Nationalist Government. Chinese Nationalist sources admitted to-day that the Cotnmunists had entered Canton

peacefully last night, and had cut all communications. The Peiping radio, confirming the occupation of Canton, said that remnants of the Nationalists in the city are now “fleeing in panic.” According to a pro-Com-munist Chinese newspaper, published in Hong Kong, a Communist column is racing forward In an effort to cut the Nationalist retreat corridor to

tviiftti cuinuui the west, into the Kwangsi Province. Communist forces now stand at the gateway to the Kwangsi Province, west of Kwangtung, according to the Peiping radio. They reached this point by the capture of Samshui. which stands at the junction of the North and West rivers, 30 miles west of Canton. A New Zealand Press Association-Reuter correspondent, William Parrott, reports that the gold-starred Red Flag of Communist China was to-day raised officially on the Chinese side of the Hong Kong border.