Tuesday, 19 August

At 8.00 a.m. Guo Taiji was indisposed and so I took part in the Cabinet meeting today. I made a report on foreign affairs using materials from the reports of Gu Weijun from his conversations with [Antony] Eden and [Brendan] Bracken.

I spoke also on the Churchill-Roosevelt meeting. I told them what we knew about it. Dr. H.H. Kung spoke on the international situation for quite a long while. As there was an A.R.A. [air-raid alarm] the rest of the agenda was rushed through and the meeting ended at 10.30 a.m. I went to the Ministry, and as the A.R.A. was not over until 1.00 p.m. I could not do anything at all. From 4.00 to 8.00 I called on Guo Taiji. Peng Xuepei (彭學沛)[1] was there too. We discussed the difficult problem of personnel in the Ministry. I advised a few changes and [suggested] that before we can get really better men we should not change any of the Section Chiefs.

[1] Peng Xuepei(188