Monday, 12 December

Rain, mild

I wrote to Guoxian.

I studied English in the morning.

The Alsop brothers [Joseph and Stewart] published an article saying that Britain and the United States had decided to help Egypt build the Aswan Dam. The construction is colossal and it would take fifteen years to complete. The dam would irrigate two million acres and generate an enormous amount of hydro-electric power. The building cost will be US$130 million. The workers would be supplied by Egypt herself. Machines and other equipment would need some US$500 million. The International Bank would lend US$200 million. For the rest of the funding, most of it will be supplied by the US government, and a minor part by the British. As for the US government, internally, the so-called Young Turk faction has defeated the Four H Club faction, which shows the US government is making progress. But the US attitude in assisting others should completely change. It should not approach aid in a manner like a strict nanny treating a child who is always reminding him to kowtow and say thank you. The US should bear in mind that from now on external assistance is not merely emotional or solely dependent on the economy, but rather, it is a political action. Soviet leaders deeply recognize such methods but it is something that the American authorities should learn. What the Alsop brothers have written is quite logical.

They also take Afghanistan as an example. The Afghan government had asked the US government to provide a loan to repair the roads of its capital, Kabul, because the poor quality of the roads in the capital were considered a humiliation for the whole country. The US government did not approve of the loan but it demanded that the Afghan government build a dam inland. Economically speaking, it was beneficial to build a dam. Nonetheless, it is only natural that the Afghan government was not happy with such an arrangement, so it raised the issue to the Soviet side. The Soviet Union agreed immediately to fund the road project. Therefore, although the money that the United States spent on helping the Afghans was a thousand times in excess by that offered by the Soviets, the Afghan people naturally appreciate the Soviet Union more than the United States. Recently, the public opinion of the United States seems to be awakening.