Round House

Thursday, 18 April

At nine o’clock Sun Fo invited me to come with him to sit in the regular meeting for the Central Committee explaining the proposal of the Legislative Yuan. As there were many bills, the discussion for the proposal of the Legislative Yuan did not start until 11.30. I give a brief explanation as follows:[1]1) Originally the Legislative Yuan thought that after completing the draft constitution its job would be over because when it drafted the constitution it had asked repeatedly for comments and opinion, and adopted those they deemed feasible. It therefore assumed that there would not be much criticism of the theoretical and technical aspects. Nevertheless recently when it read the articles published and proposals externally, it felt that many people still did not understand the draft. Also the convening of the National Assembly was about to take place, so the Legislative Yuan staff found that we had to take up the job again. 2) This type of work was more appropriately done by the Legislative Yuan. The reasons are: a) Article 22 of the Jianguo Dagang regulated that it should be propagated by the Legislative Yuan. b) The staff of the Legislative Yuan have undergone research for two to three years, and they are comparatively clear about its content. c) It would be easier for the staff of the Legislative Yuan to debate with various parties than it to be done by the people of the Central Government. Also it was inappropriate for the Central government to be involved directly as it would harm its dignity. d) People would think that staff of the Legislative Yuan explained law in terms of the legal perspective which would have lesser political colour so the illustration would be more easy-going. 3) The budget aspect would only be slightly explained. People did not show any objection and passed it. Zhu Jiahua even said that these were all critical things. I said thank you to him. He was so courteous.

Sun Fo invited the former President of Lingnan University, Dr. James N. Henry, for lunch at his home. Gan Naiguang was the accompanying guest. [2]

Deng Zhaoyin had a slight temperature today.

[1] It was written as “as left” in the diary.

[2] Gan Naiguang was an alumni of Lingnan University.