Wednesday, 9 May

Dull

General Marshall made a second report in the Senate, saying if American planes bombard the Northeast, the Soviet Union must bombard Japan and Okinawa, and a great war must break out. According to the current policy, the casualties of the CCP army has reached 500,000 to 800,000 people. He also said that European power at this time is insufficient to defend from a Soviet invasion, but the United States would absolutely not adopt a policy of appeasement.

The editorial of the New York Herald Tribune today noted the weakest point of MacArthur’s suggestion was that the United States could fight the Soviet Union on its own. Therefore, both President Truman and General Marshall took it as the tool of counter-attack. I also thought so. What I thought was same as Marshall – that if American planes bombard the Northeast, the Soviet side would be forced to join the war. Therefore, even though General MacArthur is welcomed by American public at the moment, ultimately American public opinion would support the policy of Truman and Marshall because they are unwilling to see the United States breaking up with the states of Western Europe on embarking the world war.

I wrote to reply to Sun Fo about my discussion with Duan Guanhai.

I learnt French on my own this morning.

I read Isaac Deutscher’s Stalin: A Political Biography. It is a good book.