Monday, 18 December
Heavy snow, cold, fine
From 10.00 to 1.30 I went to painter A.M. Gerasimov’s studio for my portrait sitting.
At 4.15 I went to the American Embassy to meet Ambassador Harriman until 6.00. According to him:
1) Hurley reported in the United States about the Chinese situation. He said he thought on the military aspect it was tough, although the general conditions were quite good. Therefore Roosevelt paid great attention to helping China, the only problem was transportation. If the Yunnan-Burma Road could be open it could solve a portion of the problem.
2) Hurley had been to Yunnan. According to his telegram to Harriman, it was highly possible that the Kuomintang would cooperate with the Chinese Communist Party. But with regard to the details of conditions he was not clear yet, when he receives this later he will tell me.
3) Harriman himself hoped that the Kuomintang could cooperate with the Chinese Communist Party before the end of the European war because now the terms the Chinese Communist Party suggests will not be so hard. If the European war ends the Soviet Union need not care about the European situation, it could subsidise the Chinese Communist Party directly, (He heard that the route in Outer Mongolia has been open, but massive transporation still seemed impossible.) cooperation would be much more difficult.
4) He also felt that Soviet policy in Europe and the Far East was to use the Communist parties of various countries to join governments so as to make sure that the said countries will not adopt anti-Soviet policies but not to communise the various nations. This is also true for China. The Red disaster in China is not so serious. If China is to turn Red, it will be 40 or 50 years, which neither of us will see.
5) The Americans were very concerned that Stalin openly referred to Japan as a country of aggression. American newspapers reported that Satō has filed a protest to the Soviet Government. Though he still did not ask Molotov, he reckoned that Satō would not say so. He asked me why Stalin mentioned this, I said personally I thought after the Japanese transferred 17 divisions from the Northeast, only 13 were left in the Japan-Soviet border. The Japanese threat to the Soviet Union is over, and the Soviet Union need not to be courteous to Japan. He thought so too.
6) I asked him whether he talked with the Soviet Union with regard to the issue of fighting against Japan. He said absolutely no because it was not the right time to talk about it before the end of the European war. I said if there was a possibility of cooperating, it seemed the United States needed to prepare well first, for instance if it needed to use its base for its air force it should negotiate with the Soviet Union earlier for preparation. He said the Soviet Union way of doing things was that it would only discuss the issue at the last moment, and they would not allow earlier discussion. Therefore he thought it was still too early at the moment the United States will not discuss this with the Soviet Union. (This is enough to prove that what Military Attaché Guo heard was incorrect.)
7) I asked him about Britain-Soviet relations. He said when Churchill came and talked to Stalin, he (Harriman) also joined the talks. What they discussed was satisfactory. Only regarding the Polish issue had they originally decided solutions, but after Prime Minister Mikolajczyk returned to London, the Polish exile government did not agree with his policy, therefore he had to resign, and the problem was unable to be solved. We can see what actually happened from Churchill’s recent report to Parliament. I asked him whether the Soviet side would recognize the Polish Committee of National Liberation as the provisional government, and if that was the case, what the British and American Governments thought about it. He said it was possible that the Soviet Union would do so. Britain and the United States would be unable to do anything since the attitude of the Polish exile government is like this. From Churchill’s report, he said regarding the Greek problem Churchill has decided it with Stalin and also the Soviet side faced the same problem of dissolving the guerrillas, therefore Soviet newspapers did not criticise Britain strongly. Probably after these guerrillas have taken ammunition, it will be difficult to ask for them back. Also Britain doesn’t have many troops in Greece which makes it even more difficult.
8) He anticipated that the European war would end in June next year because after the Allied army landed in France, the German army has lost more than two million people in the eastern, western and southern battlefields. So the next spring when the weather is fine and the rear of the Allied army has finished preparation, then it will launch a big offensive. Until then Germany will lose another several million people. The only fate would be collapse.
9) It is also possible that the American army doesn’t wait until the end of all military operations in the Philippines and goes straight to China.
10) He said the Washington side told him that Minister Song would visit the Soviet Union. He asked me if this was right. I could only answer yes.
11) He asked me in detail about the Chinese Government reorganisation and Minister Song to be the Acting Head of the Executive Yuan, I told him the same as I told Kerr. He was quite good about Minister Song.