Saturday, 3 June

Fine

At 2.00 in the afternoon I visited the newly- returned American Ambassador, Harriman.  He was exceptionally concerned about the Sino-Soviet relationship. He said the American side paid great attention to it, because if China and the Soviet Union cannot cooperate, world peace will be affected. I told him about the Chinese Communist Party situation, and what happened with the Xinjiang-Mongolia Incident, and told him the determination of the Chairman and our authority to be a good neighbour of the Soviet Union. Though there are many difficulties, the current situation is not as serious as people believe. Harriman was pleased about this. I asked him about the recent American-Soviet relationship, and whether the American Government or public opinion will change in attitude towards the Soviet Union, or if they are influenced by the election and the Polish Incident. People are worried the Soviet Union and Britain will return to a balanced policy, because Soviet attitude towards the Polish Incident and the Balkan States in the Mediterranean Sea has aroused suspicion. Also recently Churchill’s attitude towards Spain and the various economic and financial agreements between Britain and Western Eueopran countries has made people worried. With regard to the American Government, he replied as follows: 1) When he was in Washington he talked to Roosevelt and Hull several times. They said they would show their utmost determination and try their best to keep the principles of international cooperation decided in the Moscow Conference successful. They were having absolutely no worry about this, and believed deeply that the Soviet side would act accordingly. Also the Soviet Union told the United States incessantly that it would not change its policy, so Ambassador Harriman believes that it will not change. So in the past few months, though many of the things that have happened in the past few months have been against the wishes of many people, they would not affect the cooperation between the Soviet Union and the United States. With regard to the various difficulties, Roosevelt and Hull treated them in the manner of philosophers. Because they know that traditional suspicion over several decades is hard to solve in one day. It needs substantial time for mutual adjustment. So they are absolutely not pessimistic. 2) With regard to the Polish Incident the United States is unable to mediate, because the anti-Soviet sentiment of the Polish army is unprecedented. They were imprisoned in the Soviet Union for many years. Treatment of the Soviet Union towards prisoners and captives is far worse than in states in western Europe, and this is naturally because of its economic situation. It has always treated its own people like this, so we cannot expect it to be generous to Polish prisoners, so the vengeance on both sides is hard to solve. He personally thought that this matter could not be solved until the Red Army completely occupied Poland. As for American public opinion, it has naturally been influenced by this incident. But since (unclear) and Professor Lange came, the situation has improved a little. All in all, in the Polish-Soviet Incident, the difficulty of the British Government is greater than the American Government, because Britain declared war on Germany for maintaining Polish independence, also the Polish Government was in London, and the Polish army fought in the frontline with the British army. 3) Several months ago, Britain was very suspicious towards the United States, because they thought the Americans would use their superior economic power to completely take away the status enjoyed by Britain, for example aviation, shipping and so on, would be unable to compete with the United States, so Britain deemed the United States as the most dreadful economic imperialism. Recently it has tried its best to minimise such British suspicion. This time the Deputy Secretary of State Stettinius went to Britain to negotiate, though one of his job duties was not to sign any agreement, the result of the negotiation has allowed the British side to understand American policy, and in the near future they can negotiate and sign various substantial treaties. So Britain has understood it, and will not return to the balance policy of the past. I asked him about the content of the proposal that Hull and the representatives of the Senate made with regard to the world peace organisation recently, and whether this proposal raised at this time served any particular purpose. I wanted him to tell me the content and all about the proposal, because this proposal is closely related to the Four Powers. I have cabled my government for instruction, because it might be necessary for the Four Powers to exchange opinion. He said he would try his best to supply all the reference details, but it happened that he was only just back to work in Moscow and he had no time to check. With regard to the proposal’s content, he said he had left Washington ten days before (He said this time he took the route back to Moscow via Britain, so it took longer.), but the proposal was completely based on the resolutions of the Moscow Conference. At the time it was decided that the four governments would secretly and respectively discuss how to implement the Four Powers Declaration proposals and the formation of the organisation. When Hull was back in the United States he immediately started his work on the organisation, because he hoped that before the announcement he could score a substantial result by meeting the leaders of the two parties in the Congress. Hull announced this time because he wants to make all Americans know this it is an affair for the whole nation before the election, that both parties reach consensus, so this issue will not become a lever during the election. Also people of other countries will know that this is a matter which has reached consensus in the United States, and there is no intention to raise this proposal to counter Britain and the Soviet Union. He also said that American planes started to use the Soviet bases yesterday. This matter took a long time to prepare, now it is successful and he is very happy about it. This is further evidence that the Soviet Union is willing to cooperate. He also asked me about Minister Song as he has heard that he has not been very happy recently. I replied that he had a trivial misunderstanding with the Chairman, but after the Chairman’s return from Cairo, the misunderstanding was over. Recently Minister Song went to work at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs office and he said he was relieved.