Wednesday, 6 December

Snow, cold

At 2.30 in the afternoon the French representative Garreau invited us for luncheon. Heads of the Diplomatic Corps and Chargé d’Affaires were at my table. Charles de Gaulle and Bidault were the hosts. Bidault told me that French policy was that France hoped that the powers in the world would not return to power politics, and they could work for the benefit of human beings. He also said that France’s situation was the same as China’s. This was also true for mutual interests. Chairman Chiang repeatedly expressed his friendliness to France and De Gaulle, therefore there was a need and possibility for close cooperation on both sides. I said I hoped that this visit of De Gaulle could solve the misunderstanding between Britain and the Soviet Union, which made both sides treat each other with honesty and eliminated suspicion. If this was not the case the prospect of the world would be unimaginable, and France would suffer even more. He agreed strongly. During the luncheon De Gaulle made a short speech. As for the Diplomatic Corps, because the Head Ambassador was the Afghanistan Ambassador, and Afghanistan is a neutral state, he was not in the right place to say anything and his French is no good, therefore the Diplomatic Corps asked the Norwegian Ambassador Andvord to represent the diplomatic corps and make a reply speech. Though it was brief it was quite good. When he quoted the words of Victor Hugo, he took the book from his pocket to recite, and when he replied the posture and tone was also like the people in the opera, which won the applause of the people at the luncheon. But I personally thought that it was too artificial to be natural. American Ambassador Harriman seemed to dislike it.

At 8.00 in the evening the Soviet Ministry of Foreign Affairs invited us to the Red Army Club to watch the dancing and choirs of the Red Army band. The dancing session was better than those I had watched. Also this time the performance had five girls. They were all young and beautiful. They also danced very well.