What is the connection?
On July 20, Ukraine’s First Lady Olena Zelenska delivered a convincing, determined, and heartfelt message to the U.S. Congress. Zelenska appealed to American lawmakers to elevate U.S. support for Ukraine and showed images of civilian victims of horrific Russian assaults. She warned that Vladimir Putin’s invading forces are “destroying our people.”
The First Lady pleaded for “the right to protect one’s home and the right to wake up in that home,” and for her country’s children to live in “peace and normalcy.” She asked for weapons, including air defense systems, to fight Russia’s terror against ordinary Ukrainians.
This was the first time the wife of a president of a foreign country has spoken before Congress.
Almost 80 years earlier, the wife of a premier of a foreign country appeared before America and delivered a similarly steely message. On Feb. 18, 1943, Soong Mei-ling, First Lady of the Republic of China and the wife of the premier (at that time, not the president) Chiang Kai-shek, addressed the U.S. Congress. She asked for the world to “uphold a lasting peace which will justify the sacrifices and sufferings of the victims of aggression.”
Important parallels exist between Ukraine’s fight for national survival today and China’s misery under Japanese militarism in the 1930s and 1940s.
Parallels between Ukraine and the Second Sino-Japanese War
Ukraine, like China in the 1930s, has surprised the world with its resilience and ability to fight. Soong remarked that “when Japan thrust total war on China in 1937, military experts of every nation did not give China even a ghost of a chance.”
“But when Japan failed to bring China cringing to her knees as she vaunted, the world took solace in this phenomenon by declaring that they had overestimated Japan’s military might.” Western military leaders missed history’s lesson when they erringly wrote off Ukraine’s ability to stave off a full Russian invasion.
The U.S. continues to play the vanguard role in defending the victims of aggression. It sent billions of dollars to support China during World War II and immediately thereafter. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, China received $3.1 billion (circa $50 billion in today’s money) in aid between 1941 and 1951.
From Feb. 24, 2022, the date of Russia’s renewed invasion of Ukraine, the U.S. Congress has already approved approximately $54 billion in aid to Ukraine. Today’s world, however, is a more dangerous place and Ukraine needs more and fast.
Zelenska’s message parallels Soong’s entreaty to “cooperate with other peoples to… make it impossible for any arrogant or predatory neighbor to plunge future generations into another orgy of blood.”
Yet, we need more historical parallels to avoid another orgy of blood. One that is glaringly missing is China’s support for Ukraine.
Where the parallels end
Unlike Taiwan, which lives under constant military threat from its much larger authoritarian neighbor and has sent humanitarian aid to Ukraine and imposed sanctions on Russia, China refuses to condemn Russia’s barbarous invasion.
Has China forgotten its tragedies such as the Rape of Nanjing which began on Dec. 13, 1937, when the Japanese military massacred at least 200,000 Chinese citizens over six weeks, and committed other atrocities such as mass rape, looting, and arson?
Did Russian brutalities in Bucha, Mariupol, and countless other cities, towns, and villages in Ukraine not strike a raw nerve in China’s consciousness?
Apparently not, when we read of Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at the G20 Foreign Ministers Meeting on July 7. Yi repeated China’s claim to hold an “objective and impartial” position on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, while also confirming deepening bilateral cooperation with Russia.
Ukraine should not forget this should China seek to play a role in Ukraine’s reconstruction. Similarly, China should remember its history when contemplating its future relationship with Ukraine.
A video of Soong’s speech to the U.S. House Representatives can be watched here.
Steven Fisher was CEO of Citibank Ukraine from 2010 to 2018. He has been based in Moscow and Kyiv for the last two decades. He is the author of the new book, ‘Into Russia’s Cauldron’.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s and not necessarily those of the Kyiv Post.
