Zhongshan Warship Incident

The Zhongshan Warship Incident, or "March 20th Incident", on March 20, 1926, involved a suspected plot by Captain Li Zhilong of the warship Chung Shan to kidnap Chiang Kai-shek. It triggered a political struggle between the Communist Party of China and Kuomintang. Left wing led by Wang Jingwei against Chiang Kai-shek and the Kuomintang Right wing faction resulting in Chiang becoming the head of the Kuomintang party and commander-in-chief of all the armies for the Northern Expedition.

Historians still disagree on whether Li Zhilong really intended to kidnap Chiang Kai-shek, whether the incident was plotted by Chiang Kai-shek to accuse the communists, or whether the whole affair was just "the consequence of a series of miscommunications, misunderstandings, faulty telephone connections and personal rivalries among junior staff" – or even whether Li Zhilong was actually the warship’s captain.