Communist Forces Wage Offensive In Kwantung Region

Greymouth Evening Star, 18 August 1949, Page 6

Communist Forces Wage Offensive In Kwantung Region

HONG KONG, August 17.—The Chihese Communist forces, led by General Liv Pocherfg, are advancing rapidly in north-east Kwangtung. Foochow, the capital of Fukien Province, and Hangchow, In southern Kiangsi, are already in Communist hands. J " ~ , , Communist troops are said to have reached the outskirts of Tayu, 175 miles north of Canton. The Nationalist military authorities in Canton have' ordered civilians to evacuate Kukong, 120 miles north of Canton, on the : Canton-Hankow railway. On the. Hunan front, the Communists are steadily advancing down the Canton-rHankow railway. One Communist column has outflanked Hengyang, the headquarters of the Nationalist leader, General Pai ChungIsi. General Lin Piao’s Communist forces are said to be closing in on Leiyang, 200 miles north of Canton. Military observers in Hong Kong predict that at their present rate of advance, the Communists will reach Canton between the beginning and the middle of September. The observers say there is little evidence that the Nationalists are offering much resistance on any South China front. Nationalists Discuss American Views On China CANTON, August 17.—The Chinese Nationalist Government has issued an interim reply to the recent United States White Paper on American relations with China. Mr George Yeh, China’s ActingForeign Minister, today issued a statement which said: “It is a source of satisfaction to note that the American Government has come to share with,the Chinese Government two fundamental views which the Chinese Government has constantly maintained, namely (1) that the Chinese Communists are ' thorough Marxists and tools of Moscow; and (2) that the Soviet Union has violated both in letter and spirit the treaty of friendship and alliance concluded in 1945 between China and the Soviet Union. “At the same time, the Chinese Government takes serious exception to the views and statements on many other important questions contained in the White Paper, but it is not the intention of the Chinese Government to engage in a controversy over past issues to the detriment of the traditional friendship between the Chinese and American peoples, and the common cause of the democracies.” ________ ’