Thursday, 1 June
Eleventh day of the fourth lunar month, Jiashen year
Fine, sun

At 11.00 this morning, Ambassador Panyushkin visited me. He said he met the Chairman, Minister Song, President Sun, Minister He, Minister Wong and Deputy Minister Hu and others and talked to them. They asked him to relay their good wishes to me. I asked his opinion about the recent situation in China. He told me that there were not many changes, but that the Chinese people are increasingly facing difficulty and seem to be in a state of fatigue. But they all know deeply that they should continue this War of Resistance, therefore their spirits are still high. I also asked him about the war situation. He said according to what he knew before he left Chongqing on 16 May, the Japanese army have transferred about 40,000 troops from areas around Shandong and Beijing, invading Zhengzhou. General Tang Enbo (湯恩伯) ’s army was unable to resist, so the Japanese army took the route to advance South to the West of Luoyang so our army was encircled. With regard to Japanese intentions it seems they are not ambitious in an extreme way, because the tracks of the Peiping-Hankow Railway were taken away by us and its base was destroyed and it was restored to farming and made into fields. If the Japanese army wants to build a new route with such a long line, more than 200,000 troops will be needed to divide and guard it. According to the military strength of the Japanese army at the moment, there are not enough to do so. I asked him about recent Japanese army movement in the area around Dongting Lake. He also thought the Japanese army harboured no ambition to get through to the Guangdong-Hankow Railway. The Japanese army movements seem to be to contain our army so we cannot send more troops to Burma. I asked him, as a best friend, his opinion about the recent developments of the Sino-Soviet relationship, and hoped that he could speak frankly to me. He said he could feel my sincerity. He replied that with regard to the Sino-Soviet relationship, it would be too pessimistic to say it is extremely bad and we need to fix it immediately otherwise the relationship will break up. But if it is not fixed then in time it will turn sour. The Soviet Union has long been friendly to China. From the onset of the Chinese War of Resistance, the Soviet Union has shown its friendship in particular and tried its best to help. This policy hasn’t been changed until now. Until 1941 the Chinese side was very good to the Soviet Union, but it changed gradually after 1941. By early last year it was even worse. Newspapers in Chongqing always expressed anti-Soviet views and inside the Chinese Government there have been anti-Soviet elements. With regard to these newspaper views, he had informed Chairman Chiang, President Sun and President Kung, and asked them to solve this. Hopefully Chairman Chiang, President Sun and the others understand the issue very well, so the situation has improved. When he met Chairman Chiang the last time (before his departure), Chiang was positive, and dispatched President Sun to tell him clearly that they will find other ways to further improve the situation. So the matter remains optimistic. In the end, he said my work here is very important, so he hoped that I could make my government understand the sincerity of Soviet friendship. I answered that the sole purpose of my mission here is to further the Sino-Soviet relationship. Chairman Chiang dispatched me here to serve this purpose. Because when I was in Chongqing I always told him that if China and the Soviet Union cannot fully understand each other and stay mutually close, it will be not only the misfortune of China and the Soviet Union, it will also be hard to maintain world peace. Therefore I came here with this high hope. I have stayed here one year. I feel satisfied with some accomplishments, but there are some things which make me greatly disappointed. I have long believed that the friendship between China and the Soviet Union is of the utmost concern, therefore in my reports to government I have tried my best to maintain the Sino-Soviet friendship. With regard to his return, I had two wishes. Firstly, I hoped that he could report China’s painful sacrifices during the resistance war over the past seven years to his supreme leader, and urged the Soviet Government to remain tolerant towards things that it deemed unsatisfactory as China is in great difficulty. I hoped that if possible, the Soviet Union could provide help to China even though it is under trying circumstances. As China is urgently in need of assistance, he should know this very well. China will be grateful, no matter how much, for the assistance. Secondly, my mission here is on the one hand furthering Sino-Soviet friendship and on the other hand I hoped to link up more with the Soviet side, so as to facilitate exchange of opinion with regard to important issues in the world between China and the Soviet Union, and to cooperate more. For example, apart from the war, there are pending issues like post-war peace organiation. As China and the Soviet Union are members of the Four Powers, so it is desirable to have better relations. The Soviet Union has such connections with Britain and the United States. The importance of the Sino-Soviet friendship and unity is not inferior to those of Soviet-British and Soviet-American. In this sense the Soviet side should be in touch with me more frequently to exchange opinion. I remember that when I was in Chongqing, I always talked to Ambassador Panyushkin and others. Though there were no important matters to discuss, we always met to exchange opinion. Only through this can the relationship and cooperation between the two countries be advanced, so I hoped that he could relay this to his government. He was sympathetic and said he would certain relay this. He said he was not in good health, and the doctor suggested he go to hospital yesterday. But he was eager to see me so he delayed for two days and will go to hospital tomorrow. He said Chairman Chiang treated him well, and he was quite grateful that a special flight had been arranged to send him back to the Soviet Union. At the end he asked me to relay his greetings to Chairman Chiang and Madame Chiang, as well as to President Sun and Minister Song. From this conversation I was quite relieved that the Sino-Soviet relationship is not as bad as people think.