Wednesday, 29 September

Counsellor Liu Shaozhou said in Chongqing that The Generalissimo received envoys from other countries. He was now the interpreter. Madame Chiang said that after returning from the United States she felt tired. Chongqing was too hot while Moscow would be cooler. She said it would be nice to travel to the Soviet Union and expressed her wish to go there. Then Ambassador Panyushkin (without hesitation) replied immediately that as the Soviet Union was at war, everything was lacking and there was a shortage of food. They would be unable to show great hospitality during her stay. If she came after the war, she would be most welcome. From their conversation, it seemed they had been prepared. Madame Chiang wanted to go to the Soviet Union, but apparently they didn’t want her to come. Based on the relationship between the Soviet Union and Japan, it was problematic to invite her to visit the Soviet Union. Shaozhou said Wang Chonghui is quite negative and is pessimistic about the diplomatic relations. Because Chinese people are egotistic, he is very worried about our future. So he told Shaozhou that our Chinese people think that the most important place in the world is the Far East, the most important part of the Far East is China, the most important thing for China is the KMT, and the most important thing about the KMT is us. This type of mentality is all around in Chongqing. So if Wang Chonghui was not asked, he wouldn’t spontaneously express his opinion. President Sun Fo was also negative. Shaozhou said he asked Sun Fo for his opinion. He kept a long silence. At last he sighed and replied that there were few people who understood the Soviet Union. So you can gather the general atmosphere in Chongqing. Also he said that Edgar Snow originally was archly post-Soviet, but this time had seriously criticised the Soviet Union in Yunnan.