WAR THREATS BRING FEAR, DRAFT DODGING, AND SUPPRESSION IN KWANGTUNG

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000600370674-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 27, 2011
• Sequence Number: 674
• Publication Date: January 31, 1951
• Content Type: REPORT

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/09/27: CIA-RDP80-00809A000600370674-3
INFORMATION FROM
FOREIGN DOCUMENTS OR RADIO BROADCASTS CD NO.
COUNTRY China
SUBJECT Sociological; Military
HOW
PUBLISHED Daily newspaper
WHERE
PUBLISHED Hong Kong
DATE
PUBLISHED 6 Dec 1950 - 7 Jan 1951
LANGUAGE
_..__._._._._.. __.- _..,._ _.. Uu ui'tr I MML
THIS DOCUMENT CONTAIN! INFORMATION AFFECTING THE NATIONAL DUINII
OF THE UNITIU STATES WITHIN THE MEANING OF ESPIONAGE ACT EO
U. S. C.. 31 AND SE. AS AMEROID. ITS TRANSMISSION OR THE REVELATION
OP ITS CONTENT! IN ANY MANNER TO AN UNAUTHORIZED PERSON IS PRO-
HISITID BY LAW. REPRODUCTION OP THIS FORM IS PROHIBITED.
DATE OF
INFORMATION 1950-51
DATE DIST. 3 1 Jan 1951
NO. OF PAGES 2
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT NO.
THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
WAR THREATS BRING FEAR, DRAFT DODGING,
AND SUPPRESSION IN KWANGTUNG
The pro-KMT Hong Kong Kung-Shang Jih-pao carried a series of reports dur-
ing December and early January revealing an increasing fear among the people
and .the strict countermeasures of the government in Kwangtung Province.
On 6 December, the Kung-shang Jih-pao reported that because of the KMT
gunboats plying Kwangtung coastal waters, KMT planes over Canton, and the ac-
companying air-raid siren warnings, the Canton population has become frightened.
Many women and children have fled to the country. Communist authorities, fear-
ing wholesale exodus to Hong Kong and Macao, have clamped down on civilian
movement. Those desiring to leave the city must get permits from the police.
Steamship lines are watched, permits examined, and boats searched to prevent
the escape of possible conscripts through collusion with crews. Peddlers'
boats are forbidden to come alongside of steamers. Former employees of the
KMT government who transferred to the new regime through necessity, are being
transferred to other offices, for fear of collusion during air raids. The au-.
thorities are taking extraordinary precautions against air raids. Recently,
there were three alarms in one day in Canton, two of them false, and the third
not accompanied by any damage; but the residents were terrified, and pleaded with'
the officials for more protection.
On 26 December, the Kung-shang Jih-pao reported that the Communists were
fortifying'the Kwangtung coast and had secretly ordered the enrollment of 150,000
students and young workers as "volunteers." A self-defense militia is being or-
ganized, trained, and armed. There are severe penalties for those who allow
weapons to fall into the hand of the guerrillas.
On the same day, the paper reported that the oppressed people are praying
for",a Nationalists counterattack, and that regular troops of the Fourth Field
Army with. tanks, and a regiment of the Third Field Army, have been sent to the
coastal areas around Swatow to resist possible invasion.
Previously, on 21 December, the Kung-shang Jih-pao reported, with reference
to those 150,000 "volunteers," that because many able-bodied men were escaping
to Hong Kong and Macao, the officials in the Tung Chiang area had formed a Popu-
lation-Movement Investigation Squad. Indentification cards are being issued in
certain cities and areas. Special cards colored black, are issued to. those who
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/09/27: CIA-RDP80-00809A000600370674-3
 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/09/27: CIA-RDP80-00809A000600370674-3
CONFIDENTIAL
were civil servants under the Nationalists. Such persons are especially sus-
pect. There are two other colored identification cards: Red for Communist
party workers; yellow, for peasants, workers, etc.
These measures have caused fear among the people. In Tung-kung, the rich
are reported hiring substitutes "to volunteer" for them, according to the
26 December issue of the Kung-shang Jih-pao. The same report said that the
poor are taking to the hills or joining the guerrillas.
When these "draft dodgers" cannot be captured, their families are held
as hostages, revealed the Kung-shang Jih-pao in its issues of 26 December and
7 January.
The 7 January issue also noted that many KMT agents are being arrested.
For example 23 women passengers were arrested on 6 January on a train arriving
at Shen-chluan.. A search by police yielded men's clothing, 300 Hong Kong dol-
lars, and 700,000 yuan. "Communist sources say that in these times of stress,
KMT secret agents use women as spies and messengers to being supplies
draft dodgers," the paper said.
CONFIDENTIAL
-2-
Mi , IDRNTIAL
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/09/27: CIA-RDP80-00809A000600370674-3