Wednesday, 10 November

At 2.00 p.m. the Soviet foreign Office Vice Minister Litvinov invited all the envoys of the Allies countries to the Foreign Office, informing them about the content of the Moscow Conference apart from those that had been released, so that they could send secret reports to their respective governments. They declared that the delay was because they had to wait for Eden and Hull to return back to their countries first and then they would all be able to do it at the same time. The report was as follows.1) Motions of three sides were more than ten. They all agreed them for discussion. They would combine similar issues for discussion. 2) The most important motion was how to shorten the war. During the discussions, sometimes these were open to all, while sometimes there were only a few representatives participating. Because some of the contents involved military secrets, the Soviet Foreign Office was unable to tell all of us. But when the discussion involved some neutral countries, like Turkey, in order to shorten the war, they have also decided whether they should ask it to join or not, and asked Eden to contact Turkey. 3) The Four Powers Declaration was an important document for joint warfare and also cooperation to maintain peace after the war. On this issue the three countries completely agreed, and only made changes regarding a few minor points of the original motion. 4) The three powers would cooperate in European affairs, and would establish the London Committee. The said committee would study suitable ways to deal with Germany and other enemy countries which would be defeated by the Allies. The organisation of the said committee would be expanded in the future, but although its power was great, it wouldn’t stop the three countries from using the normal diplomatic paths for discussion. 5) The power of the Italian committee was bigger than the previous Mediterranean Sea committee, because it could make proposals to the Mediterranean sea headquarters of the joint armies, the respective representatives could directly report their proposals to their respective governments, and their respective governments could talk directly with the other governments concerned. 6) The three sides exchanged and discussed all the information they had with regard to Italy and the Balkans with each other, the Soviet political proposals towards Italy were completely accepted. The items had been publicised. 7) As to how to divide Germany and make it weak this was also discussed as well, but Molotov said that we should not discuss this at present because it would arouse reaction from the German side. If Germany thought there was no hope, then the resistance would become stronger. Therefore after the three foreign ministers exchanged ideas, they all agreed to pass this problem to the European Committee to work out. 8) As to the independence declaration towards Austria, they thought the time had come, and it should encourage and strengthen its power in resisting Germany. 9) Whether small states in Europe united or formed federations or confederations and should be given encouragement or not were also discussed. The Soviet Commissar of Foreign Affairs Molotov announced that Soviet opinion is completely as follows. (a) After the war all the small countries should be completely independent. (b) After the war when the small countries resumed their independence, they might face internal difficulties, and political status would take time to stabilise, and people needed substantial time to settle. (c) The relationships among the small countries and their neighbouring countries were hard to determine immediately. (d) Therefore all the big countries should not push them to unify. If this was the case, it would not only be dangerous for the small countries, but also great trouble for European safety. (e) This type of federation means the small countries will have to relinquish a part of their sovereignties. Giving up of sovereignties of this type had to be decided by their own people freely. The exile governments in London now, or those governments organised because of war development (before settling), could not represent the genuine wishes of people.(f) This form of federation made the vassal states of Germany, which invaded the other countries, attain equality of status with those countries being invaded through federation. In this way they could be free from the necessary punishment after defeat. This was unfair. (g) Some might even want to use this formation to obstruct a Soviet Cordon Sanitaire, which the Soviet Union would naturally oppose. Based on all these reasons the Soviet Union thought that it was not yet time to discuss the issue. If the European political process developed to the status that this issue needed to be discussed, then negotiations would resume. Britain and the United States totally agreed with this idea, so no substantial suggestion was raised. So in the conference it was felt that there was no need to pass the resolution to reject this motion.10) The signing of an alliance treaty between small and big countries individually was also touched upon. Eden had mentioned to Molotov that if both sides didn’t mutually agree then a new treaty would not be made with a third party. Molotov agreed in principle, and asked Eden to bring forward a concrete proposal, but Eden didn’t propose for long. Later Czechoslovakia proposed to the Soviet Union to imitate the British-Soviet alliance, signing the Czechoslovakia-Soviet alliance. Czechoslovakia and the Soviet Union exchanged ideas about drafting the treaty clauses. But Britain opposed it based on Eden and Molotov’s conversation. But at the conference Eden said on behalf of the British Government that he would no longer oppose it. So President Benes would soon come to Moscow to sign the treaty. 11) With regard to the Polish problem, Molotov said in the conference again his policy towards Poland was that he wanted Poland to be strong and independent and to maintain friendship. But the attitude of the Polish Government in London was like this, there was no way for the Soviet Union to be on friendly terms with it. So the issue could only be stopped here. 12) It was also decided in the conference that no matter if the enemy proposed peace talks with any country, the said country should inform everyone so that it could be discussed together. 13) As for the emancipation of Allied territories which were previously held by the enemy, the issue would be forwarded to the European Committee for discussion. (The Belgian Ambassador asked if it included territorial issues. Litvinov said no. It was exclusively on political issues. 14) Economic issues are extremely complicated, and include construction, food, transportation, finance, and so on. They couldn’t be solved in such a short period of time as the conference. It was decided that these issues would be handled via normal diplomatic procedures. 15) There was no discussion about boundary issues and no one raised it. As for the Soviet boundary the Red Army would protect it. When I was back at the Embassy I immediately cabled the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Secretary Yang Shuren left for Alma Ata tonight (to be diplomatic courier for the second time). It is only now that the letter to Fanny and all the clothes can be taken to China.

Counsellor Liu said it happened that he talked to the headmistress of his daughter’s middle school regarding her study. The headmistress said the Soviet Government had informed her the Chinese Embassy was its friendly institution, so the school could communicate with it. Therefore Miss Liu could befriend her classmates but this should be kept to an optimal scale. This proves that the Soviet government is good to me.