Reds Expected To Reach Canton Next Month

Northern Advocate, 17 August 1949, Page 5

Reds Expected To Reach Canton Next Month

HONGKONG, Tue. (12.50 p.m.).—Kanchow, an important South Kiangsi city, was today occupied by Chinese Communists. At the same time the whirlwind advances over the Kiangsi border into Kwantung brought Communists within 170 miles of Canton, and less than 200 of the Hongkong frontier.

Military observers in Hongkong predict that, at the present rate, the Communists would reach Canton between the beginning and middle of September.

Official claims to the contrary, observers said there was little evidence that the Nationalists were offering much resistance on any South China front.

With reports that Foochow, the capital of Fukien Province, is now menaced on all sides, observers believe the city will soon fall. The Communist Peiping radio tonight claimed that the entire Central Shensi Plain was in Communist hands. A Washington message says the United States has'' ordered its Embassy in Canton closed if the city is threatened with occupation by Communists. A State Department spokesman said this decision was made because Chinese Communists authorities failed to protect American diplomats, and American consular officers, in Communist areas generally, had been unable to perform their normal functions, particularly protection of American nationals and their interests.