Monday, 20 December

At 11.00 a.m. I went to [name unknown] hostel to visit the Czechoslovakian President Benes. When I visited Czechoslovakia with President Sun Fo in March 1938, I had talked with him. I apologised that because of the death of my mother and my foot ailment I was unable to welcome him. Then we had a long talk until 12.30. He said as follows: 1) With regard to the results from the Moscow, Cairo and Tehran Conferences, he was fairly delighted with the results. He was particularly happy with the Four Powers Declaration as it formed a base for world peace. 2) The reaon he came to Moscow this time again was to sign the Soviet-Czechoslovakia treaty. Besides that, he also discussed all the issues between the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia. All these questions came to a sound conclusion and he was completely satisfied. 3) I asked if Poland hoped to join. He said it was the intention of the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia to invite Poland to join the agreement. But given the current personnel in the Polish Government, it was quite unlikely that they would join. 4) Certainly, the Soviet Union would be unwilling to cede its territory back to Poland. Other than this, the Soviet Union treated Poland quite well. It was quite willing to see a strong Poland. If Poland developed towards the West, the Soviet Union would be happy to provide support. Even regarding Polish internal politics the Soviet Union had no intention of interfering and had made no attempt to communise Poland. 5) Before the war Czechoslovakia had suggested a Polish-Czechoslovakian Confederation, because if countries in Central Europe didn’t form a strong coalition, they would be unable to stop the ambition of German aggression. Unfortunately Beck and others were unable to see this point, on the contrary they linked up with Hitler in order to maintain Czechoslovakia. The result was that Czechoslovakia suffered. When Germany invaded Poland, Sikorski arrived in London. President Benes told him that he was willing to forgive the mistake of Poland, and to re-start negotiation of cooperation and confidential matters. There was only one pre-requisite. As the Soviet Union would soon fight with Germany, it was also necessary to discuss the relationship with the Soviet Union. Sikorski at the time thought this idea was high-flown but not long after Germany came into the war with the Soviet Union, so Benes wrote to Sikorski, saying there should be three pre-requisites for a Polish-Czechoslovakian Confederation. A) Poland should come to an understanding with the Soviet Union. B) Poland should adopt a democratic system. C) They needed to defeat their enemies back into their own countries, and the governments to obtain the support of the people, then the formal agreement could be signed. During the negotiation, the Soviet Union ceased to have diplomatic relations with Poland. The matter was therefore over. 6) Now because of the results of the Moscow Conference, all the so-called confederation plans of Middle Europe and Eastern Europe are stopped. 7) With regard to the European situation after the war, he thought that the Britain’s foundation was solid, and it could recover soon and would not be in great chaos. France would have many internal difficulties, which would make it hard to recover the old status. Germany would be in prolonged disorder and Italy diminished in size. All these would be hopeful, although they would take a substantial amount of time. But the Balkans and the various countries in Eastern Europe were much more pessimistic because before the war these countries were ruled by quasi-dictators. Their societies and political systems didn’t undergo much reform. After this war, it was questionable whether their people would support the previous governments. So he feared that these countries would embark on civil wars and their difficulties would be greater. This was also true for Poland. 8) When he talked to Stalin, Stalin told him that he was fairly good to China, saying that in the future world peace couldn’t be maintained if China didn’t join, and Sino-Soviet cooperation was a must. 9) Before arriving in the Soviet Union, he had been to the United States to talk to President Roosevelt and Hull many times, they expressed the same opinion with regard to cooperation with the Soviet Union. When he was in the United States he had met Madame Chiang and Minister Song. When Minister Song was in Britain, they had met and talked, and paid particular attention to the rejuvenation and reconstruction of post-war China.

President Benes was quite nice and he has long expressed his friendliness to China. During the time of the League of Nations the Japanese representative Matsuoka Yōsuke tried his best to persuade him to abandon its anti-Japanese attitude, and also told him the Japanese plan is to divide China into three areas as Northern China, Central China and South China. Even the Foreign Minister John Simon didn’t like him for being pro-Chinese. John Simon openly asked why Benes held this attitude, and asked Czechoslovakia how it had any capability for sanctioning Japan. He answered that he was completely for justice’s sake. Though Czechoslovakia couldn’t use force to offset Japan, it was quite willing to use up its strength to cooperate with others to do so. He had long known that Czechoslovakia wasn’t strong, but what he depended on was justice and morality. He also knew deeply that it was a most harmful policy to scramble for one-time benefit or to maintain temporary survival by bad means. Therefore Hitler wanted to entice him to join a compromise with sweet words, but he was not moved. Hitler had invited him to meet in Germany three times but he declined because he knew that this type of meeting between countries of non equal status either meant break-up or kowtow. Both were inappropriate to Czechoslovakia’s status at the time. Probably among the European politicians, Benes was regarded as one with great foresight in the world. It is already difficult to be like this for leaders of great nations, it is even more difficult for small ones. There must be a reason why Confucius praised Zichan. I immediately cabled the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.