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Convenient Theory. When the city was calm again, the government announced its finding: the riots had been caused by Chinese secret societies that victimize the refugees. This was a convenient theory, designed to offend neither the Communists nor the Nationalists, and no one gave it much credence. The riots were undoubtedly spontaneous, but the well-discipline'd movements and the antiforeigner manifestations that marked their later stages smacked suspiciously of classic Communist tactics. As the only political organization in Hong Kong capable of such efficient exploitation, the Communists stood to gain by using the violence to 1) test Hong Kong's strength for a possible Communist takeover, 2) to discredit the Nationalists internationally. A pointed warning came from Communist China, just across the border. "China," said Red Premier Chou Enlai, "can neither ignore nor permit such events." Said an official broadcast: "We will watch carefully whether the British are capable of maintaining peace and order in Hong Kong and Kowloon."
*Marking the founding of the Chinese Republic by Dr. Sun Yat-sen on Oct. 10, 1911.