Madame Chiang Goes to Washington

Soong Mei-ling in the House of Representatives

Present Day Global Crisis

Earlier this year, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres called the Covid-19 pandemic the greatest crisis the world has faced since World War II. By invoking the grave historical allusion, he stressed that, at a time like this, countries must put aside their differences for the sake of the global good. For the United States and China, the world’s two foremost political and economic powers, cooperation is essential to effectively resolve the pandemic and its concurrent economic disaster.

However, Sino-American relations today are at their worst point since Nixon shook hands with Mao in 1972. In the past year, both sides have engaged in a tit-for-tat tango as consulates have been closed, journalists have been expelled, and legislators have been sanctioned. The U.S., under the Trump administration, has largely escalated what many observers call the new Cold War. As it was then, both Republicans and Democrats are suspicious of China, and most Americans currently have an unfavorable impression of China. This enmity has culminated in the form of racist attacks on those presumed to be of Chinese descent in the U.S., illustrating how foreign policy always has domestic implications.

Soong Mei-ling’s Addresses to the US Congress on February 18th, 1943

The historical parallel we must learn from, however, is not the Cold War, but the Second World War, when Sino-American cooperation proved decisive for the fate of the world. Alongside the U.K., France and the Soviet Union, China was a major ally of the U.S., and without China’s steadfast resistance against the Japanese Empire, the war could have easily gone in another direction. Soong Mei-ling, First Lady of the Republic of China, served as the vital bridge between the two, and her impassioned addresses to the U.S. Congress in 1943 not only garnered vital military and economic aid for China, but also framed the Sino-American relationship in a way that is crucial to remember in this moment of heightened hostility. Specifically that both countries are the “hands and feet” of a global “body” where any calamities the world faces must be resolved by working in tandem.

Soong Mei-ling’s rhetoric is worth revisiting today for two key reasons:

First, targeting the speech not just to Congress, but declaring that, “I am literally speaking to the American people,” she champions American ideals of inclusive democracy as well as that of the burgeoning United Nations.

“You have today before you the immeasurably greater opportunity to implement these same ideals and to help bring about the liberation of man’s spirit in every part of the world. In order to accomplish this purpose, we of the United Nations must now so prosecute the war that victory will be ours decisively and with all good speed.”

Soong Mei-ling sitting with Eleanor Roosevelt in front of the White House

Her message then is as clear now as it was then: The U.S. is uniquely capable of prosecuting crises facing the world beyond its borders. During the Second World War, the U.S. served as the “arsenal of democracy” in the fight against fascism. Today, the U.S. is the leading supporter of global health initiatives, such as the eradication of polio. Regrettably though, the Trump administration has pulled the US out of the World Health Organization, alleging it is under Beijing’s thumb, and refuses to participate in an international endeavor to develop and distribute a vaccine for Covid-19. Rather than leading the fight against Covid-19, the U.S. has retreated into an isolationist shell.

Instead of shirking our responsibilities to the world, we must remember Soong Mei-ling’s declaration that, “we of this generation who are privileged to help [must] make a better world for ourselves and for [our] posterity.” It is not just the generation of the Second World War in 1943 and our generation during the Covid-19 pandemic today that bear the burden for these respective crises, we have to see them through for the sake of future generations as well.

Secondly, she emphasizes the real friendship between the two nations spanning since 1783, especially through her use of personal anecdotes.

“I came to your country as a little girl. I know your people. I have lived with them. I spent the formative years of my life amongst your people. I speak your language, not only the language of your hearts, but also your tongue. So coming here today I feel that I am also coming home.”

Americans and our Chinese counterparts have a long history of cultural and economic exchanges, especially in the form of students. Today, out of a misguided desire for “decoupling” with China, the U.S. has ended the operation of the Peace Corps and Fulbright program in China, along with cancelling the visas of many Chinese students. The foundations of the Sino-American relationship are individual connections, and by ending these exchanges, the U.S is burning bridges before they are built. Soong Mei-ling exemplified this bridge as an alumna of Wellesley College, and her deep understanding of both cultures not only won support for China’s war effort, but was essential to the repeal of the racist Chinese Exclusion Act at the end of 1943. Engagement, rather than hostility, positively influenced both nations.

The Enduring Importance of Sino-America Cooperation

Although President Trump’s “blame China” gambit to win reelection came up short, President-elect Joe Biden and prospective members of his cabinet are unlikely to take a much softer line. Secretary of State nominee, Anthony Blinken, for example, firmly believes the US is in a “competition” with China. However, the Covid-19 pandemic challenges us to discard competitive saber-rattling in favor of a cooperative agenda to maintain global public health. People may call this a new Cold War, but the Soviet Union and the United States were communicating throughout that era, and cooperated on initiatives such as the termination of smallpox. The U.S. and China have in fact also collaborated previously on tackling pandemics such as SARS, H1N1, and Ebola.

Undoubtedly, both countries have a chasm of disagreements that cannot easily be resolved. Nevertheless, as Soong Mei-ling presciently pointed out seventy-seven years ago, “…modern science has so annihilated distance that what affects one people must of necessity affect all other peoples.” Covid-19 is not the first global pandemic, nor will it be the last–not to mention the looming specter of climate catastrophe. As WHO director general Dr. Tedros aptly summed up, “No one is safe until everyone is safe.” Thus, to tackle these issues and more head on, it’s high time that we Americans meet our Chinese counterparts where they actually are, rather than where we want them to be.