Wednesday, 28 October

Guo invited Robert Guillain, Dr. Thompson, Dr. Lui, Mrs. Luo and Miss Li Xianglan (李香蘭)[1] to lunch. Guillain is an expert on Far Eastern affairs and has written many articles for Le Monde. He returned only two weeks ago from Japan. He thinks anti-American feeling is mounting there but the Communist threat is not so acute. He agreed with Alsop, who wrote a very interesting article in the New York Herald Tribune this morning, saying Japan needs the South East Asian market and also trade with Communist China for her existence. He (Guillain) said the French leaders ought to know that the amount of freedom given to the Vietnamese few years ago is far from satisfying any patriotic Vietnamese, and the only way is to make further concessions peacefully. As to negotiation with Ho Chi-min he regarded it as placing the French in exactly the same position as the Kuomintang vis-à-vis the Chinese Communists in the war period, which is simply suicidal. He thinks Lee Beom-seok will be a leading figure in South Korea in the near future as Lee is the most trusted man of Rhee. Dr. Thompson is in charge of German affairs in UNESCO. He had worked in the American forces in Germany, studying German concentration camp methods. He criticized his leaders.

Li Xianglan is a famous Japanese cinema star. Zhu Shiming got into trouble partly because of her. Took a few photos after lunch.

[1] Miss Li Xiang-lan, also known as Yamaguchi (Shirley) Yoshiko (山口淑子,1920-2014) was a legendary Japanese singer and actress who was active in China in 1940s. She died in Japan in 2014.