Tuesday, 16 January

At half past twelve Zhongxiong took the train back to London.

I learnt Spanish on my own.

Britain has declared its military situation, saying the army in service currently has eight hundred thousand men, whom are split into seven and a half divisions. (Two divisions and one brigade in Germany, one brigade in Austria, almost one brigade in Trieste, one and a half divisions in areas around the Middle East, Mediterranean, Egypt and so on, 17,000 men in Malaya, 11,500 men in Hong Kong, 12,000 men in Korea.) Now in Britain proper there are three to four divisions, and two years hence they could be increased to more than twelve divisions. For the production of military products, now half a million people are being employed. Before the end of this March, a further 250,000 recruits could be added. It had been decided by the end of last September that in the coming three years £3,600,000,000 would be spent on ammunitions, but now the amount will be increased to £4,500,000,000.

President Truman raised a colossal budget in the Congress. The total expenditure for the whole year would be US$7,160,000,000. The defense cost for China would take seventy-seven per cent which would be US$5,250,000,000.