United Kingdom Liaison Mission in Japan
Tokyo
7th January 1952

As far as an armistice is concerned it has always seemed to me that we shall get one if the communists want one but not otherwise. We have thought in the past that for their own good reasons they do want one, but the slowness of the negotiations has surely demonstrated that they are in no great hurry.
…

It is easy to criticise the conduct of the armistice negotiations, but in fairness to the Americans I think it must be said that they have done as well as might have been expected given their temperament and the circumstances. On occasion it has seemed to me that they have been at least as much responsible for delay as the Communists, and it is a pity that the American inspired press here should take the uncompromisingly hostile attitude it does, since I have no doubt this is known in Peking. Given this attitude, it would hardly be surprising if the Communists are as suspicious of us as we rightly are of them.