Chinese cruisers deserting in an effort to preserve their neutrality in inland conflict according to the Dutch newspaper Het nieuws van den dag voor Nederlandsch-Indië dated 18 July 1922

An item dated Tokyo 17 July reported that according to tidings from Canton four cruisers of the navy of Sun Yat Sen (1) deserted. Their commanding officers claimed neutrality during the war against Cheng Chiung Ming.(2) The effect was that Sun Yat Sen possessed just two cruisers, two destroyers and two transports.

Notes

1. Sun Yat-sen (12 November 1866 Xiangshan, Guandong, China-12 March 1925 Being, China), provisional president of the Republic of China between 29 December 1911 and 10 March 1912, member of the Kuomintang. His political life is characterized by a continuous ‘fighting’ and regularly exile. As leader of revolutionary governments he tried to decrease the influence of the Chinese warlords. In 1922 he started a military campaign from his southern base joined by the Chinese Communist Party and supported by the Soviet Union towards the north.

2. Chen Jiongming (13 January 1878 Haifeng, Shanwei, Guangdong, China-22 September 1933), was military and civil governor of Guangdong and military governor of Guangxi in 1922 who supported Sun Yat-sen until he in 1922 suddenly changed sides and rebelled against Sun during the Northern expedition. The Kuomintang and the Chinese Communist Party considered him being treacherous and a warlord after this.