Wednesday, 22 March

Dull, snow

In the morning the Canadian Ambassador Wilgress visited me. He said as follows. 1) The United States did not recognise the French Committee of National Liberation because of the personal relationship between Roosevelt and De Gaulle. He also said that the reason the United States recognised the said committee last year was completely from Canadian initiative. The United States is quite unwilling to do so, and he told me in detail how the United States almost came into a misunderstanding with Canada over this matter. 2) Recently the Soviet Union has been very cool towards the French Committee of National Liberation, and French air force personnel have not been treated as well as before. Garreau was worried about it. 3) As recently the magazine War and Working Class talked about the second war zone issue, he personally thought that Britain and the United States would inform the Soviet Union about their preparations from time to time, but perhaps the Soviet Union still had some disagreements with them and therefore made this slight warning. As soon as he knew, Britain and the United States also wanted to end the war quickly, because economically and psychologically speaking it could not be drawn out. Roosevelt’s personal status would be in difficulty as Americans could not accept defeat easily. If a slight sacrifice happens but no substantial advancement is made then public opinion will criticise him severely and so as a result he has to be extremely careful.

I received a telegram from Liquan on 19 March.1) On 14, 15, 16, and 18 March, Soviet planes continued to fly over the Sinkiang border for reconnaissance and bombing. 2) Our army has advanced to Ertai. The enemy army has increased to about 2,000 people, some of them were soldiers from Outer Mongolia and Soviet military officers. Our side has tried to increase our strength, but our military force there is weak. If we lose then Dihua will falter. It would affect all Xinjiang. He has already cabled the Generalissimo to send important military and diplomatic staff as well as some airplanes and troops to help fighting in Xinjiang. 3) The Soviet Consulate said its government is investigating this matter. 4) Minister Song has asked the Soviet Ambassador about this three times. The reply was that the Soviet Ambassador had reported to the Soviet Government. 5) Zhu Zhaoliang will immediately fly to Dihua. 6) The Communists at Shaanxi have come to a compromise with Wang Jingwei, Japanese troops went to help via Shanxi. The Central Government wants to purge and the military situation could change anytime. After reading the telegram I felt very worried. Our country is now facing many difficulties, having civil wars, and also having conflicts with Outer Mongolia and the Soviet Union. The future is unpredictable and this makes us very pessimistic.