1933 - Two Gun Cohen on a family excursion to Brighton

Jan 28, 1933. PHOTO. London. General Cohen has taken his mother, aunts, and sister Sarah for an outing to Brighton. Mrs Cohen smilingly professed ignorance of her son’s mission. “He has had important work to do, but we know nothing about it,” she said. “We only know that Morris has come home to see us for a time.”

Michael Alderton (essarem) notes that the Hong Kong press reported on aspects of his European mission in the following terms:

Jan 28, 1933. Hong Kong. General Cohen Visits Manchester. Discussion On Trade With China. Optimistic View. Mr Nathan Laski gave a luncheon at the Midland Hotel to enable a number of leading businessmen to meet General Maurice Abraham Cohen while he is on a European visit in the interest of trade and good relations between Europe and China. General Maurice Cohen has for some years exerted considerable military and political influence in China, where he has fought with and led the National forces, winning the confidence and friendship of Dr Sun Yat-sen and of his son, Mr Sun Fo, the present Nationalist leader. Much of interest and information emerged in the course of an hour’s rapid talk, in which he replied to penetrating questions addressed to him by merchants keenly concerned in economic and political conditions in the Far East. The possibilities of a stabilised currency and of stabilized civil Government were discussed, and upon the more important of these matters, General Cohen held that attempts to unify the country by force had admittedly failed and that there were increasingly hopeful prospects of peaceful unification under the banner of the National party and the leadership of Mr Sun Fo. The Japanese invasion had done more to unify China than anything else in the last 20 years, he declared. On the proposition of Sir William Cundiff, supported by Sir Edward Rhodes, Mr Nathan Laski was warmly thanked for affording the opportunity to meet General Cohen.

Feb 13, 1933. Hong Kong. General Cohen on Manchuria. Oil Resources Coveted by Japan. General Maurice A. Cohen, military organiser in the Cantonese forces, acting as liaison officer between the Southern Government and foreign powers, paid another visit to his parents in Manchester after a journey to Paris and Geneva, and in a brief interview with a representative of the Manchester Guardian discussed the present situation in Manchuria. “My personal belief is that Japan wants Manchuria for its natural resources, especially its oil, because if Japan were to go to war with a first-class Power that is one commodity for which she would have to depend upon outside sources. I believe the militarists in Japan made up their minds to secure Manchuria for that sole purpose. And this is the common belief in China.”