Saturday, 1 July

Eleventh day of the fifth lunar month, Jiashen year

Dull, light rain

At noon I returned my visit to the Egyptian Minister in Room 307 of the National Hotel. It happened that he talked to the Netherlands’ Ambassador saying that after this war every country should relax a bit with regard to their sovereign rights. But the Ambassador still insisted that they should not give up sovereignty, and emphasised duty. This is the small countries in Europe’s normal selfish policy. They still haven’t woken up from the hurt of losing their countries during this gigantic war. The Ambassador was also deeply suspicious about Soviet support to Tito and the Communist Party in Italy, reckoning that they still hadn’t given up intervening in other countries’ internal poltics. I tried to explain, saying that if Britain and the United States want to work sincerely with the Soviet Union, and the various European governments all understand how the world has developed, not submerged in the path of old imperialism and to use progressive elements to lead governments, then it will not be necessary for the Soviet Union to interfere in other countries’ internal politics. Otherwise, based on the painful experience of the last twenty-odd years, the Soviet Union will certainly oppose those anti-reactionary governments which it deems enemies. I took Italy as an example. The British side wanted to support the Italian King and Badoglio, while the American side wanted Count Sforza to be in power. Naturally the Soviet Union dispatched its party because it did not want a revival of the Italian imperialists, which would bring back Fascism. With regard to assisting Tito, it was the British representative who stayed with Tito who provided more than to the Soviet Union. All in all, I think what the Soviet Union needs is a stable Europe, so that it can carry on its construction work. Now all its moves are for self-defence. If all the countries do not revert to imperialism, then the Soviet Union will not interfere in the internal politics of others. They said this was a most optimistic explanation. The Egyptian Minister is still worried whether the strong countries will give up their aggressive policies after the war or not. As he is from Africa, he is certainly concerned about it. I reassured him with the American policy.

At 4.00 in the afternoon the Canadian Minister Wilgress celebrated his National Day by hiring a big ship called the Voroshilov. He invited more than 270 people from the Diplomatic Corps, plus Soviet officials. We visited the Moskvo river and the canal, and dinner was served on the ship. It was a pity that the weather was bad today, but this party was special so the people who came were all interested. The snacks prepared were not quite adequate as the host did not expect all those invited would come. After dinner people danced at the rear of the ship, and Ambassador Kerr and I were just watching. But the Norwegian Ambassador and the actress who played the Queen in the play, Lapishinsky, danced a lot, and in various postures. It was rare that this old gentleman was in so good a mood as to dance. But I thought it was disappointing to see a dancing star in the daytime. Probably it is best to see a dancing star under a dim light. As a matter of fact, a beauty who is called a beauty is fifty per cent really beautiful, whereas the other half comes from the viewer’s imagination. To view a beauty under sunlight is just like viewing a picture under a microscope. One can only find faults. Minister Wilgress especially arranged to receive the Soviet Deputy Foreign Minister, the British and American Ministers and others in another room. Many guests thought that this differentiation was inappropriate. But as a matter of fact this is the normal way here, Soviet banquets are all like this. I never participated in such privilege, because ethically it is unacceptable. In terms of Chinese custom, we should treat all guests as equals. It is certainly necessary to talk to important people a little more but if one leaves guests in the other room unattended, it goes against the etiquette of being the host. If the host does things that are against the etiquette of being a host that is his own business, but as guests we shouldn’t do things to embarrass the host. So every time I go to a banquet, I will talk to people around me. As a result the Diplomatic Corps have been quite good to me, and told me many things. Today even the American Ambassador Harriman felt uneasy, so he left the room and talked to every guest. He also came to my table to talk to me for a long time. Kerr also felt uneasy so he left the room to watch the dancing. Therefore, it is very reasonable that China places stress on custom.

The French representative Garreau said as follows: 1) The Soviet Union has prepared to make an offensive in the central route and prepared two months before. As the main German force is there, if the Soviet Union doesn’t concentrate its power there, it will be unable to give Germany an intense strike. Because the Soviet Union needed to prepare for it, it had to throw up a lot of smoke screens to the Japanese side so as not to arouse its suspicions, (Because the German side had forcefully pressed the Japanese side to invade the Soviet Union.) both intentionally treating China coldly and its attitude towards the Chinese Communist Party served this purpose. In this case Britain and the United States would certainly communicate their difficulties to China secretly. But the Soviet way of doing things was, as usual, different from others. Probably they assume that if they informed the Chinese Ambassador (Fu Bingchang), he would certainly report to his government. The telegrams would have many ins and outs, and they had to pass through the hands of many deciphers, which would lead to leakage and be harmful to the whole matter. So the Soviet Union view was that it supposed others would understand its difficulties. If they did not understand, the Soviet Union would just leave the matter there and others would know what really happened later on. He talked to people in the Soviet Union during the past two months, and he knew that as a matter of fact the Soviet side was really good to China. 2) The Soviet Government thought that the European war must end this year, it depends on the Red Army to defeat the German army, so the Red Army has to reach Berlin ahead of the British and American armies. 3) After the landing of British and American armies in Western Europe, the Soviet Union has been very enthusiastic in its cooperation with Britain and the United States. So when he talked to the Soviet Government about recognising the French Government, the Soviet side clearly expressed that the Soviet Union has decided that during and after the war it will cooperate with Britain and the United States on all matters, so because of this issue it cannot offend the United States. Therefore it has urged De Gaulle to try his best to work closely with the United States, and also said that if he is able to get the support of the French, he will have no difficulty becoming the leader of France, and there is no need to strive for an empty name now. 3) Charles de Gaulle is a very capable person, but the people he uses are mainly young and inexperienced, so it is inevitable that they do things in a hasty manner. This has also made things difficult for him. The Swedish Charge d’Affaires said that Ambassador Assarson returned to Sweden to become Vice-Secretary General of the Swedish Foreign Office and worked exclusively as the soviet-Finnish consultant. This time he contributed greatly. Sweden has tried its best to urge Finland to withdraw from the war. Though such effort has yielded nothing, the Soviet side has understood it. Therefore Stalin has sent a telegram to the Swedish King in thanks for mediating the Soviet-Finnish Incident. I said such a contribution from Ambassador Assarson to his government was more than any other work, but whether his return to Sweden is fortuitous or not, I was not certain. Hamilton said the American Life published pictures of various posts of a Soviet dancing star, and praised her highly, deeming her as the best ballerina. But the Soviet Government thought she was too well-known, and sentenced her to fell trees in a forest for six months. She recently returned to Moscow and resumed performing only yesterday night. One can see the Soviet way with regard to things. At 9.00 the ship arrived in Moscow. On returning to the Embassy we all felt hungry. We had to eat again.

The Soviet army scored a big victory in the central route. They have passed through the old Polish border at the North route, and recovered Disna. They also occupied Sleutsk to the South of Minsk. The speedy collapse of the German army was unprecedented, and the casualties serious. These are enough to prove Garreau was right.

Though the warfare in our country has taken a turn for the better, it is still not very good. We still control Hengyang and are fighting desperately.