Sunday, 12 November

Dull

In the past few days I I have been reading a book Vincent Sheean’s Between the Thunder and the Sun. He praised Churchill highly, particular when Britain was at its critical time and military power the weakest, Churchill sent many troops to North Africa and the Near East to save the “British Empire” from falling. He thought that no British politician could take such a big risk. He listed the reasons for the failure of France, saying that the defeat was mainly due to three women. They were Mme.La Countess Hélène de Portes (the mistress of Reynaud), La Marquise Jeanne de Crussol (the mistress of Daladier) and Mrs. Odette Bonnet. Amonst the three of them Reynaud’s mistress was the worst. She directly interfered with things small and large. If she did not like any important military or political person, she would dismiss him. In the last resort when Reynaud refused to withdraw the troops and fleet to North Africa to continue resisting German this was because she did not want to leave French territory. However, her end was that she was killed in a car accident on a Swiss highway. This was a punishment from God. The author had met her in the past and thought she was not pretty but behaved and spoke rudely. She did not act like a noblewoman. She was at the time 45 or 6. One of the most ridiculous tales was that once Reynaud and Daladier fought for power but it was not a struggle between both. It was actually a struggle between the mistresses of both in the next room. With regard to using physical force, the two men just waited quietly for the result of the fighting between the two mistresses. Vincent Sheean has been to Chonqing, but what he wrote of his impression was of no good. Possibly he was influenced by the aunt of his wife Lady Maxine. When Lady Maxine was young she worked on the stage and later married a rich Englishman. She was widowed early and befriended King Edward, so she was close to British celebrities, particularly Churchill, Lloyd George and others. That’s why Vincent Sheean praised the British but looked down upon other peoples.

Wang Chingwei passed away in Nagoya today. He was willing to become a puppet and was teased by all people. This was partly because he did not have a strong will, and partly because of his wife Chen Bijun (陳壁君)[1] In the past, Dr Sun said that if we needed Wang Chingwei to participate in the revolution we must make him divorce his wife first. Mr. Hu Hanmin (胡漢民)[2]one told me that Wang Chingwei was very good at making speeches, could write good articles but had no knowledge. These remarks were very appropriate. I knew him for a long time, and I found he was a person with great ambition, but he did not have enough knowledge. During the formative stage of the revolution he knew his shortcomings, so he always tried to follow Hu Hanmin closely. Hu Hanmin also knew his shortcomings, so he never tried to be courteous to him. Hu Hanmin regarded himself as the elder brother and viewed Wang Chingwei as little brother. At that time I talked to Wu Chaoshu and Sun Fo with regard to this many times, and I was afraid that Wang Chingwei would not be contented with this, also Chen Bijun would be certainly unable to tolerate it. Unfortunately things happened as I expected. He would become a permanent enemy of Hu Hanmin. I and Wang Chonghui had tried our best to make them conciliate but Hu Hanmin did not want to talk to Wang Chingwei and Wang Chingwei was not sincere about it. One night before his departure from Chongqing, he invited me to his home for a meal. He said firmly that the Soviet Union was scary, and Britain and the United States unreliable. The military situation of China was dire and the prospect was of little hope. I argued that because of its own interest the Soviet Union would also help China, so we shouldn’t fear it and the attitudes of Britain and the United States were not that bad. He said I was over-optimistic. I did not realise that at the time he talked to me he had made up his mind to become a puppet and Chen Bijun could not bear that he had had such a debate with me and hurried him to go to bed at 10.00. Therefore I had to leave but he unexpectedly left Chongqing the next day. If he had had a leader with a strong will and supreme knowledge to guide him and ger rid of the influences of Bijun and others, he could have been of use to the country. Unfortunately his destiny was like this so we should be careful with our deeds. Today is Dr Sun’s the birthday, but it happened that Wang Chingwei died on this day. So is it possible that Dr. Sun could no longer stand him?

Britain, the United States and the Soviet Union simultaneously declared that they had invited France to join the European Advisory Commission. The Times editorial even said that during Churchill and Eden’s discussion with De Gaulle in Paris now, it touched on providing France with ammunition and helping France to build a strong army. In this sense, the cooperation of Britain with Western Europe is similar to those of the Soviet Union with Eastern Europe.

The British broadcast said the Minister of information urged the British not to be too critical about China.  Britain is certainly better than other countries in coping diplomatic matters.

The Foreign Ministry relayed the telegram from the Generalissimo, asking Shaozhou to take up his post quickly in Xinjiang as envoy. This matter cannot be altered. Therefore I discussed this with Shaozhou and Jingchen, and could only decide that he should leave here by early next month. I thought his appointment to Xinjiang must be very helpful for dealing with Xinjiang affairs. But after his departure my work here will be more difficult as no one is as competent as him in Russian.

[1] Chen Bijun (1891-1959) was Cantonese, She was born into a wealthy family in Nanyang.

[2] Hu Hanmin (1879-1935) was a Nationalist Party leader. He was a Party theoretician.