RUSSIAN ADVISERS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27276, 30 December 1949, Page 5

RUSSIAN ADVISERS

Arrival In Communist China Planning Invasion Of Formosa NZP A—Copyright HONGKONG, Dec. 28. Russian military and technical advisers were arriving in China by the hundreds, according to a Chinese jqurnalist who spent eight months under Communist rule in Nanking. The journalist, Chang Kuo-sin. who was the United Press Bureau manager in Nanking when the Communists occupied the city, has just arrived in Hongkong.' Chang said it appeared that Russian military advisers were assisting in planning the invasion of Formosa, which, according to his Communist informants, could be expected by summer at the latest. These informants estimated that the Communists would be able to muster at least 100 planes and 30 warships, plus a picked force of 180,000 troops. The warships included former Nationalist ships which went over to the Communists.

Chang said the growing Soviet influence on China was one of the most striking changes he had witnessed. Most of the Soviet advisers, including engineers, were reported to be in Manchuria, but they had also been encountered in Shanghai and as far south as Canton. One mission of about 72 Soviet railway engineers was attached to the Communist Railway Repair Corps. Chang added that it was also reported that Russian advisers were attached to the Health Ministry in Nanking. Communist Threat in Hongkong Hongkong busmen have sent an ultimatum to their employers threatening to stop work if their demands for higher pay and better conditions are not met by Saturday. Hongkong is faced with the threat of a general strike. Tramway employees are already on strike, and employees m other public utilities, including telephone, electricity, gas and postal workers, are considering their attitude. , , The arrival in Hongkong from Communist Canton, of a group' of “official sympathisers threatens to shift .the dispute from the industrial to the political sphere. Responsible observers in Hongkong for many months past have predicted that the Communists would instigate a general strike in Hongkong. , , „ After the fall of Canton and the occupation of South China adjacent to Hongkong by the Chinese Communists, these observers expressed the view that the Communists would not risk a frontal attack on the British colony. They thought that the Communists would try to paralyse the colony through strikes, and thus demonstrate their power in an attempt to win concessions.