Friday, 2 July

Vice Consul Zhao came and told me about personnel movement change in the five consulates on the Xinjiang border. He said he was quite happy about the change. As Governor Sheng was pro-Soviet in the past, they ordered all personnel in the five consulates to take orders from the Soviet side. The local Soviet diplomats and the local Soviet officials could contact Sheng direct, and they all threatened that they could report direct to Governor Sheng, and Sheng always did his best to accommodate them. Therefore, the five Consulates arere equivalent to Soviet servants. Now the Central Government has taken Xinjiang back, policy will have to change, tthe personnel have had to be changed to cope with the new situation, as the old habits have persisted for a long time, if there is no change it will be difficult to cope with the local officials. He also said he would like to come and work in the Soviet Embassy in the future. I strongly urged him to study hard, not only so he will be proficient in Chinese and Russian, but his English also needs to be improved.