Saturday, 3 February
I invited Xie Baoqiao, Liang Lipun, Yujun and Guo Youshou, and their[1] French friends: Mr. and Madame La Roche and Mele Claude La Roche, to have dinner. Mr. La Roche is the director of Hachette, the biggest publisher in France. He has substantial status in cultural enterprise. After dinner, they watched my television. He talked with me until midnight and left. Baoqiao and others talked to me until two in the morning and then they left.
American envoys stationed in the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe and the Balkans met for a conference in Paris. It was chaired by the Deputy Secretary of State, George W. Perkins. After exchanging intelligence, they all said that there would be no war in Europe because the Soviet Union, Eastern Europe and the Balkans show no signs of preparing for such a war. If the Soviet Union were to fight Yugoslavia at this time, the harvesting of grains between summer and winter would be affected and it would not be possible to deal with it. As for the conditions of various countries: 1) the rejuvenation and construction has been very successful, but the production of basic raw materials is still unsatisfactory. This is the same as I had thought.
John Gunther has published articles in American newspapers, urging that the United States should not give up Europe. His statistics for raw industrial materials is as follows:
| United States | Vassal states of the Soviet Union | Transported to West Germany from Western Europe | |
| 1. Steel | 96.7 (1000000tons) | 31.0 | 46.6 |
| 2. Manganese | 0. Dependant on Canada, Ivory Coast, Moracco and India. | ||
| 3. Uranium | Dependant on Belgian Congo | ||
| 4. Coal | 650.0 | 250.0 | 500.0 |
| 5. Electricity | 400 billion KW | 125.0 | 250.0 |
| 6. Kerosene | United States itself still does not have enough, needed (to import from) Middle East, Venezuela, Caribbean. |
He also spoke of the efforts of various states in Europe putting up their construction. On average the industry in the whole Europe has increased by twenty-four per cent compared with before the war. Therefore, for the consideration of Europe and the United States, Europe should not be abandoned.
The American Deputy Secretary of State, Jack K. McFall, replied to a letter from a certain member on behalf of Secretary of State, Acheson, saying that this is not the right time to use Kuomintang troops to fight against Mainland China for four reasons:
- The army of Chiang Kai-shek is limited. Though the Chinese Communists have transferred troops to Korea, those troops left behind are more numerous than Chiang’s men in number.
- The current supply of ammunition by the United States is still unable to meet the demand. Even for what is needed by South Korea, the United States does not have enough to give.
- The major mission of Chiang’s army is to defend Taiwan. The weather between spring and summer would be suitable for sailing across the Taiwan Strait. The possibility of the Chinese Communists invading Taiwan would be even greater. Manpower in Taiwan is limited, and if troops were eliminated they would be not be easy to replace. In turn this would weaken the self-defense capability of Taiwan.
- The Korean War is the war of the United Nations General Assembly, therefore for those countries joining the war their opinion should be in consensus. This is also the actual situation.
[1] Xie Baoqiao, Liang Lipun.