Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-09-02
CANTON IS PLAYING
! FOR RECOGNITION
Careful Maneuvering Grad
uaIIy Swinging Govern
ment Into Control.
BY Cable to The Star and New York World.

BY Cable to The Star and New York World
CANTON. China, Sept. Grad
ually and with consummate skill the
Government Of Canton, which is in
dependent of Peking, is manuevering
Itself into a position which it expects
soon will force the great powers to
consider seriously giving it official
recognition
Although there are really five indie
pendent governments in China today,
the foreign powers persist in recog
nizing only that clique, or faction,
which controls the capital city. Pc
king, whereas in reality other govern
ments are usually more stable and
more powerful than the Peking
regime.
Canton, now actually at war with
the Picking faction, has been indie
pendent of the North many years,
but only of late has it begun the
strategy by which it may eventually
force recognition. If Canton gets
recognition the land of China viii be
split--there will be two governments
with diplomatic standing.
Used Anti-British Boycott.
Canton uses the facts of trade, and
having to deal with Canton officials
TO continually strengthen it's official
standing. For instance. more than a
year ago nearly 100000 coolies at
llOnGkonG went on strike. moved to
Canton in a body and then with the
cooperation OF the Canton govern
ment declared boycott of Hongkong
and on all British goods Negotia-
tions for ending that boycott are at
last under way at this date-not be
tween Hongkong and the strikers but
between Hongkong and the Canton
government.
Canton made the first move by
writing TO the governor of Hongkong
proposing n parley. HOngkong's gov
ernor replied he would be glad to ap-
point negotiators. Canton cleverly
came back with a list of three dele
gates representing this Government
and with plenipotentiary powers"
The note added that Canton expected
the Hongknng government to name
delegates Of equal rank and author
fly"
Sir Cecil Cleminiti. governor Of
fionGkong, replied that Hongkong is
crown colony and under British
governmental rules cannot set up re-
lations with any foreign power. Can
ton countered by demanding. then, if
it should consider the delegates as
representing Great Britain. There
was considerable parleying over this
point and In the end. Hongkong had
to give in and send delegates repre-
senting the government" Score for
Canton.
Here is semrle Of the 81 ategy
which Cantor has just used where
the United Ftates is conCernrt"
On June 1 Canton abolished the
Office Of commissioner for foreign
affairs and set up a ministry of for
eign affairs. with Eugene Chen as
foreign minister. Chen is a former
newspaper editor Though q Chi
nese, he was born in Trinidad and
long enjoyed the immunities of Brit
fsh citizenship in China. This he
has now renowned and is a Chinese
citizen.
Demands Respectful Treatment.
Douglas Jenkins, American consul
general at Canton, was notified of
Chen's appointment by a diplomatic
dispatch. to which he replied June
Is. Then. thinking it over, Mr.. Jen
kins evidently decided he had better
have his attitude one of official rec
ord, so on June 80 he wrote to For
eign Minister Chen, referred to his
own letter of June 16 and FASTENED
to explain that-'While this consul
late general is pleased to correspond
directly with the minister of foreign
affairs, it is. of course, understood
recognition is not implied"
To which Chen replied:
Though In ordinary circumstances
your letter might call for no specific
reply, believe the best interests of
the American people and Of the Chi
neSe people. as represented by my
government, would be served if | make
a categorical statement that While my
government, which has established an
independent political regime, founded
here nearly a decade ago, has unified
a group of territories larger in area
that France and Italy combined. with
q population ot 60.O00,000 people, de-
mandS that IL ba treated with respect,
il neither desires nor expects from
america and other foreign powers the
SortMo: recognition which even con
siderations of political realism and in
ternationai dignity have not prevented
them from granting TO the phantom
governments successfully set up in
Peking by the Mandarin squeezers,
military plundererS and eN-bandlt
chiefs
The foreign powers (America In
cludedj. apparently have not yet real
lied that Picking has long since ceased
TO represent the Chinese nation, and
that 1t is today an organ of eXploita-
ton and plunder in the hands of the
nlandarinate and the northern mill
tarists. AS long as this fundamental
fact remains ungrasped by the powers,
the fate Of China must necessarily
grow worse and some OF the ominous
possibilities of the situation may well
become realities"
Another score for Mr.. Chem
He derides the foreign powers for
their Picking attitude and closes his
last paragraph with a yelled threat
not without peril behind it.