Sunday, 24 October

Ambassador Kerr invited me to lunch, and it was also for me to have a talk with the Foreign Secretary, Anthony Eden. I was asked to go there a little bit earlier. I arrived at 1.00 p.m. and talked to Eden for about 20 minutes. Eden said Hull had told him that he had told me what happened in the conference. He said he would tell whatever he knew. We had a very good talk. I also raised several questions, and he answered in detail. He was very straightforward and chatty, with great charm as a gentleman. No wonder he is called “pin-up boy” in Moscow by American reporters. My report was as follows.

To Generalissimo and Minister Song, as I expressed my wish to have a meeting with Eden to Ambassador Kerr, and so Ambassador Kerr invited me to lunch for this purpose, and introduced me to talk with Eden before lunch. What Eden said was as follows. 1) The agreement of the Four Powers should be fine. When it is passed, Secretary of State Hull will let me know. 2.) The difficulty of the second war zone is that it isn’t easy to cross the English Channel. In the past when the British army retreated from France and Belgium, although the German army was stronger than the army of Allies is now, they couldn’t chase in order to attack because of the barrier posed by the English Channel. Now the Allied armies will have to be fully prepared, otherwise they will be unable to land in Western Europe, because if they are defeated it will seriously affect the future. I asked Eden whether the Soviet Union was satisfied with this explanation by Britain and the United States or not. He said the Soviet Union was satisfied. Probably after Britain and the United States informed the Soviet side about the detailed plan, they received an understanding from the Soviet Union. 3) In the conference, the Soviet attitude was quite sincere and Molotov in particular showed his sincerity in cooperating, therefore the progress of the conference went smoothly. I asked Eden if there were many issues pending to be discussed in the meeting, and if these would pose difficulties in the future. He said there should not be any big problems. 4) After the closing of the conference, there was a proposal to set up an organisation for mutual discussion. The purpose was to ease communication between Britain, the United States and the Soviet Union. The proposed organisation would be based in London. Fu Bingchang. 24.

I also include the telegram on 20 October here. To Generalissimo and Minister Song. TOP SECRET. I met the Secretary of State Cordell Hull. He talked to me sincerely. What he said was as follows. 1) The Soviet Union put great emphasis on the issue of the second war zone. But what Britain and the United States could do is to inform the Soviet Union about their plan with regard to this issue.2) The main focus of the United States is the cooperation of the Four Powers. He had prepared an agreement proposal for the Four Powers and I hereby forward it to you for your review. His main aim in visiting the Soviet Union was to persuade the Soviet Union to join, and he asked me to keep it secret. 3) The Soviet side scrutinised closely the organisation of various political committees in the Mediterranean Sea and Europe. But we are uncertain of its real intentions. But the attitude of the United States is very obvious int that the governments of all European countries in future will be elected by the people, and they did not advocate any puppet government. 4) He asked me to relay his regards to you and Minister Song. I replied that I would convey this to you and Minister Song. I also asked him in his view what would be the Soviet attitude towards the war in the Far East. He said he hadn’t discussed that point yet, but he would ask the Soviet Union about this later on. I said to him if there was any further development in the conference, please let me know, so that I could secretly inform the Generalissimo and Minister Song. He agreed and said we would meet two or three days later. Hereby I respectfully report. Fu Bingchang. 20.

That day (20 October) was their first meeting. It seemed that Hull was quite suspicious of many Soviet policies. He asked me about my opinion of the Soviet Union. I urged him not to suspect the Soviet Union. And I told him that I have been dealing with the Soviet Union for many years. Though I found their ways of handling things different from Britain and the United States which puts diplomats in a difficult situation, I deeply believed that 1) The Soviet people loved peace, and their government definitely had no territorial ambition towards other countries as there was no need. They had a vast territory and plenty of resources, and their industrial construction was successful. I then told him briefly about the retreat of the Soviet Union from Xinjiang and what Stalin told President Sun with regard to Outer Mongolia. 2) If we didn’t cooperate with the Soviet Union, future world peace will be impossible to maintain. He was impressed and said he was relieved with such comments coming from me. He said this gave him great hope for the conference’s prospects. I also thanked him for his goodwill towards China and insisted that China should join this Four Powers’ agreement. I then said the reason why China needed to join was from the perspectives of China, the United States and even the world. He agreed and said he would try his best to help. But as to the outcome, he was unable to say, as some might say that China should not join, and perhaps their reasons were valid.

I have put the telegram on 23 October here. To Generalissimo and Minister Song. TOP SECRET. I think the telegram of 20 October has arrived. I met the Secretary of State again this morning. We talked as follows: He told me, in confidence, that an agreement proposal of the Four Powers had been proposed at the meeting the day before yesterday. The Soviet Union agreed and only wanted to revise certain clauses, but they were not the most important ones. The United States proposed passing it immediately. The Soviet Union proposed delaying for a while so they could have time to study the amended clauses. 2) He told me that the Soviet Union looked closely at the British and American military and political plans on Italy. They discussed this issue in the conference yesterday. The Soviet Union requested Britain and the United States tell it the whole thing. They did so accordingly. 3) I asked if the Soviet Union was happy with the plan with regard to the second war zone, and he replied that the Soviet side was quite satisfied. But it still had several questions and asked Britain and the United States about them. They were able to give satisfactory answers. 4) Lastly, he said that Britain and the United States would not talk about the border issues of various countries in Europe, and would resume the discussion after the war. 5) I have already made an appointment with him to talk again, and he told me that we should keep all these points top secret. Hereby I respectfully reported. Fu Bingchang. 23.

When I talked to Hull on that day (23 October), I felt that his attitude towards the Soviet Union was much improved. He said the Soviet Commissar of Foreign Affairs Molotov was more sincere in operation, so he was more optimistic for the future. He asked for my opinion again. I kept emphasising that we should cooperate with the Soviet Union.