-3- Chiang Kai-Shek. I think it was also the first time the President had met the Generalissimo. By the luck of good weather I arrived in Cairo on the evening when the Prime Minister was entertaining the Generalissimo and Madame Chiang Kai-Shek, this leveler of indestructible China had his most gifted wife. It was a most memorable experience when the Prime Minister took his guests and Aimiral Mountbatten, who is Supreme Allied Commander South East Asia Command, and who, of course, also came to Cairo for the conference into his map room, where for some hours we dived deep into war plans and projects. If I may just strike one personal note, I would say that it is difficult not to be deeply impressed by the Generalissimo, even at a first meeting. Some of my Hon. Friends have already met him. I had never met him before, and that impression deepens as time goes on. Under the outward gentleness and gracefulness of this remarkable personality there is a core of supple steel. His is a strength, you feel, that cannot be broken; it can only be bent and then strike back with even greater force. From what I have said, the House will understand how readily the Generalissimo and our Prime Minister understood each other. They speak just the same language of determination. And all through that evening and many subsequent discussions and meetings Madame Chiang Kai-Shek was always there to help us with her sagacious counsel, her unrivalled experience of east and west, and her brilliant gifts as an interpreter. I am sure the House will not wish me to apologize for giving just this personal impression of meeting these very remarkable personalities. As I have said, our military mission agreed in Cairo upon future military operations against Japan, that we also thought it well to take this opportunity to set out the political principles for which we are fighting, and we did so in these words: "The three great powers are fighting this war to r %esist and punish the aggression of Japan. They covet no gain for themselves and have no thought of territorial expansion." Such being our purpose, it is our determined intention that Japan shall be deprived of opportunities for further mischief; that she shall be expelled from all the territories, to whomever they belong, which she taken and that reparation shall be made to |