Thursday, 21 August

I went to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at 7.30. Jin Wensi (金問泗)[1] reported that the Netherlands’ Ministry of Foreign Affairs denied that the Dutch Indies had commercial negotiations with Japan, and that the Netherlands’ attitude was resolute. Shao Lizi reported that he had met the American Ambassador and the latter recounted his meeting with Stalin and the impression from it was pretty good. Although they did not touch on the anti-Japan topic, it was believed that the Soviet Union kept sufficient vigil on the Far East. So, he (the American Ambassador) thought that Japan did not dare invade the Soviet Union. Shao Lizi also said that the Soviet Union was unwillingly dutiful towards Japan, and we should understand this.

At 7.00 p.m. Wu Tiecheng invited me to supper at his home, and we discussed with Lin Bin the tidying up of the Party affairs’ regulations.

[1] Jin Wensi(1892-1968) was a diplomat who had studied in Beiyang and Columbia Universities.