In their public sessions, the diplomats talked of Europe. But their secret talks were of Asia. And Western diplomats carried away a strong suspicion that the Russians had decided on a holding action in Europe to leave themselves free to paddle in Asia's turbid political waters.
Last week in Berlin, Molotov entertained a select group of top East German Communists. The scraps of his speech which leaked out to a TIME correspond ent are revealing. "The focus of Soviet policy is in Asia," Molotov said. "The agenda of this conference has been decided with the concurrence of our Chinese ally . ....