Thursday, 28 September
Fine
The Indian broadcast said negotiations between Gandhi and Jinnah have broken, and the documents have been published. I thought that Gandhi was still not magnificent enough, and he is not as great as our Dr. Sun Yatsen. Gandhi overestimated Japanese strength in this war and underestimated British strength so he was against resisting Japan. It was already a blunder. Now he is again unable to make the greatest concession to Muslims so as to procrastinate over the independence of India. The most important aspect of being a genuinely great leader is that he will put the benefit of his nation and peoples first. If people are too radical they will be harmful to the interest and future of the people, he should have a dauntless spirit and put these onto the right track. If he only followed the people and did not care about the interests of the nation, and only tried to get prestige, we could just say he sold the country for his own benefit but not as the so-called leader of a country.
Last night I talked to Shaozhou and Daichu with regard to diplomat’s duties. I thought that working in outside embassies was not the same as in the Foreign Ministry. This is because what we handled in the Foreign Ministry was routine work where Government has already set the policy, In this sense the Foreign Ministry is just an organisation implementing policies. Its structure is a normal institution, and its personnel have guidelines. Therefore though its job duties are numerous, its responsibility is, on the contrary, small. But it is the same for Embassies outside. Its duty is to investigate the diplomatic, political and social conditions of the host country and make honest reports, so that our country can set policy accordingly. If the observation is wrong, the bad effects can be enormous. Therefore, in order to be good at this job, people should have the following capabilities.
1) Increase one’s power of observation. It means one should increase his knowledge and intelligence. For instance, we should study the political dynamics of the world, the differences of the economies of various countries, social thoughts, as well as the comparison of the pros and cons of their culture. The study of a few international laws and diplomatic etiquette aren’t enough.
2) Should have in-depth study of the host country. (a) Diplomacy: every country has its own history and environment, therefore, its foreign policy has to change accordingly. So when we research the diplomacy of one country, we shouldn’t only research the policy of the country, we should also research its important opponents. For example, the relations of the Soviet Union with Britain, the United States and the small states in Eastern Europe, if we only know the condition of the Soviet Union but we did not know the British and American conditions, or we only know the conditions of small states in eastern Europe, we only know a portion of the whole picture but do not know what actually happened with these countries. (b) We should know the history of the people, the customs of people as well as their thoughts and culture very well. All in all, the main job duty of embassy staff is on research but this type of work is not easily noted and requires patience and diligence. These are different from those who work in the Foreign Ministry. Ever since I arrived here I have tried to mentor people and encourage them to study more. As for myself, I haven’t dares stop pushing myself, and I seem to have learned quite a lot in the past two years.
In the evening Jingchen invited us out to the circus. The performance was just so-so. He also invited Shaozhou’s children, Daichu and his wife and others. We had eight people altogether. During the interval Daichu went out on his own and bought an ice-cream for his wife. In this crowded venue, many boys and girls were there, but he only had one piece of ice-cream and he gave it to her before many people. His wife felt it was perfectly alright. Such an act is taken for granted in western civilisation by these modern couples. I really did not want to see it.
Churchill made a report in the British Parliament today. He said as follows:
1) He expected that the war against Germany could be over this year, but it was also possible that it would extend for a few months. British and American armies have landed more than three million troops in France, and the ratio of the British and American armies was 2:3. The casualty ratio was the same. (British Army: 90,000 / American Army 145,000).
2) The British army have defeated 10 Japanese divisions and killed over 70,000. This was the biggest strike against the Japanese. (What about the Chinese battlefield?).
3) The wars in China have been quite disappointing.
4) The British navy has been transferred to the Indian Ocean, and started to join the war against Japan. Britain decided to use its greatest strength on the navy, military and air force to attack Japan, and will not let the United States take all the responsibility. The only question is transportation by ship.
5) Soviet demands for Polish territory were certainly reasonable, and he hoped that the Polish side would send representatives to Moscow to settle the affair soon.
6) In the conference about post-war peace organisation in Dumbarton, the three powers still haven’t yet reached a consensus. Probably it cannot be decided until the Heads of the three powers meet.
7) He hoped for a strong and friendly France. (It was just as the Soviet Union hoped for, a strong and friendly Poland.)