Round House

Friday, 5 April

At 11. a.m. I returned to the Round House from Li Dugong’s home. After lunch, I followed Sun Fo to the National Political Council. Sun Fo reported how the constitution was drafted, explaining it was according to the posthumous teachings (of Dr. Sun Yat-sen) of the theory of differentiation between political power and ruling power. In this sense, the Nationalist government could not establish a permanent organ during the adjournment of the National Assembly. Also, as it was a constitution of the Three People’s Principles, the basic principle with regard to the livelihood of the people had to be regulated. Therefore the chapter on economy could not be deleted. After Sun Fo’s report, Carsun Chang (張君邁)[1] followed. He reported on the motion amending the draft constitution of the Xianzheng Qichenghui (憲政期成會). His most important point was that during the adjournment of the National Assembly, a national political council should be set up, whose powers would be significant. On the one hand, it should include the political power exercised by the National Assembly. On the other hand, it should absolutely include the ruling power of the Legislative Yuan like making the budget, declaring war, making peace and legal principles, which downgraded the Legislative Yuan under the legal bureau. The intention of the China Democratic Socialist Party and others was quite clear. Many attendees at the meeting disagreed with it. I whispered to Ye Chucang. He asked me if they queried Sun Fo’s report what should we do. I replied that Sun Fo agreed that in the event of tough queries we would answer in written form. But with regard to Sun Fo’s refutation of various points in their amendment motion, Carsun Chang was absolutely unable to provide satisfactory answers. After Carsun Chang ended his report, Chairman Chiang immediately stated his opinion. 1) The differentiation between political power and ruling power, and the “power” and “function”, which were stated in the posthumous teachings of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, could not be violated. 2) It was inappropriate to restrict the executive power too vigorously. After the end of the meeting I talked with Zhu Jiahua and Li Wenfan. They agreed to mobilise the Legislative Yuan staff to support the draft of the constitution. On returning back to the Round House I immediately discussed with Sun Fo that we should advocate:1) suggesting the Central government organise a committee for propagating the drafting of the constitution. 2) During the meeting of the Legislative Yuan tomorrow, Sun Fo to report to the staff about what happened today. We should encourage the committees to make an issue of it. He agreed.

At seven, Sun Fo invited Tan Kah Kee (陳嘉庚)[2] and the Nanyang representatives to dinner at his residence.

[1] Carson Chang(1887-1969) had studied at Waseda and Berlin Universities. He was a well-known philosopher and politician. He died in the United States.

[2] Tan Kah Kee(1874-1961) was a wealthy businessman, leader as well as a Nanyang philanthropist.