TENSION EASES

Timaru Herald, Volume CLVIII, Issue 23283, 20 August 1945, Page 5

TENSION EASES

Chungking And Communists Conference To Be Held By Telegraph—N.Z Press Assn.—Copyrlgtr <8.30 p.m.) CHUNGKING, Aug. 18. The report that the Chinese First Army has occupied Canton is erroneous. A new division to march instead of fly will delay the occupation for several days. The tension between the Chungking Government and Communists has eased as preparations have been completed for the surrender of all Japanese forces in China on August 21. General Mao Tze-Tung Communist Commander) after two days’ apparent defiance, is reported to have agreed to send a representative to Chungking to discuss with Generalissimo thiang Kai-shek outstanding issues.

An earlier message claimed that the Chinese first army has entered Canton and would formally accept the surrender of the Japanese South China Forces, thereby liberating all occupied South China, inch’ 'ing the Heinan Island, Luichow Peninsula and Hong Kong. Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek has ordered Lieutenant-General Okamura, commander of all the Japanese forces in China, to send surrender envoys to the American air base at Chihkiang. Okamura telegraphed agreeing to send his chief of staff, General Hashijimo, and his deputy chief of staff, General Kiyoshi, to arrange the surrender. A Canton correspondent says the newly appointed mayor, Vice-Admiral Chan Chak, will be among the Chinese representatives accepting the formal surrender of South China. Chan was the hero of the Christmas day escape in 1941 of British officers from Hong Kong. The Central Government now controls the Peiping radio station. The Domei agency at Shanghai said that loyal Kuomintang forces have begun reconstruction activities.

Lieutenant-General A. C. Wedemeyer, commander of the United States forces in China, disclosed that the Japanese dodged the biggest offensive punch ever planned in the China theatre by counting themselves out of the war. Allied naval units were detailed to co-operate, he said, and 20 Chinese divisions, American-trained and equipped with the latest arms, were ready to hop off from bases recently won in the South China corridor area. Large numbers of Chinese paratroops and commandos were poised to assist. Nineteen other Chinese divisions were in various phases of training and had been partly equipped.