Ms. Soong is the wife of Chiang Kai-shek, the famous leader of modern China, and is also known as the “Forever First Lady”.
She comes from a distinguished family and graduated from the prestigious Wesleyan College in Massachusetts, USA. She is well versed in international politics and was the first oriental woman, and even the first Chinese, to be invited to address the U.S. Congress on “War and Peace” in 1943. She was the first oriental woman to be invited to address the U.S. Congress, and the first Chinese to do so. The speech helped to build strong support for China’s war against Japan, and was instrumental in the victory of the war in the future. She was selected as one of the ten most admired women in America.
After China’s victory in the war against Japan, the international situation took a new turn. The Communist International infiltrated the world and helped the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) seize power in China. In just a few years, the CCP’s military power was multiplied, and it gained control of American politics and public opinion. At that time, the Chinese Communist Party was widely regarded as a “freedom fighter” and a land reformer, and few people on the U.S. side, with the exception of a few wise leaders such as Patton, General MacArthur, and Ambassador Sturgeon, were able to see the true colors of Communists.
At the end of 1948, in an effort to turn the tide, Soong Mei-ling went to the United States again to solicit foreign aid, but failed to change U.S. policy toward China. On January 6, 1950, a dozen months later, Britain, a former World War II ally, recognized the Chinese Communist regime, and it was widely believed that the Nationalist government in Taiwan would eventually lose the war.
Before her departure, she gave a “New York Address to the United States,” in which she stated, without being overbearing, that no matter what the circumstances, China would fight to the end, and that this war was not a civil war in China, but a worldwide conquest of good and evil, and that she believed that in the future.
All the nations of the world will have to choose between freedom and communism; that is, between good and evil, and in the end, justice will triumph over evil!
This broadcast is even more contemporary when read seventy years later in the context of the global anti-communist movement. The following is an excerpt from the full text for the reader’s reference.
Radio Address to the United States from New York, January 9, 1950.
Friends.
I speak to you today to bid you farewell and to thank you for your gracious hospitality. I hope that the next time I come to America, the air will be more pleasant and my country will be free from the iron heel of the foreign invaders.
Every time I leave the United States, I am always at a loss for words. Not only was I a visitor, but I had spent many years of my life as a young girl here, where I had received all my education and gained many insights that would enable me to serve my own people. In a few days, I am going back to China. I am not going back to Nanking, Chongqing, Shanghai or Guangzhou, I am not going back to our mainland, I am going back to the island of Taiwan where my people are, the bastion of all our hopes, the base of resistance against a foreigner (Communist) who is raping our country.
With or without assistance, we will fight on. We have not failed, and millions of our compatriots are committed to the long struggle. As long as we are still alive, as long as we have faith in God, we will continue to fight, and not a day, not a moment, will go by that we do not fight for freedom.
We will fight evil with evil. With our indomitable spirit and life-giving perseverance, we will fight the enemy and destroy him. The Chinese mainland is full of our guerrillas, holding high the torch of freedom. The enemy’s lies and deceptions, the enemy’s seduction and propaganda, must not only be destroyed by bullets, but also defeated by truth.
The oppressed people of the continent, at the sound of the trumpet, will rise up and respond with counter-attacking forces to destroy the tyranny of communist rule.
To achieve this goal, we are determined to give our lives.
What we show to people may be various appearances of having failed. Those who fear for their lives and have no regard for morality may think that China is hopeless and want to write it off.
I hope that no matter where my voice reaches the free corners of the world, it will arouse freedom-loving people to realize that China, abandoned and alone, is now carrying the only gun that can defend freedom. The world has been divided into freedom and communism, and in the near future there will be millions of other people who will have to choose between the two. Or to bend the knee (to communist) slavery?
It is important for everyone to understand that what we have chosen to do is to fight for freedom. It is not – and the world should know that it is not – our struggle alone. The present struggle in China is the beginning of a great conflict between good and evil, the beginning of the struggle between freedom and communism.
My husband has been leading his people in the struggle against Communism for more than twenty years. He was solely responsible for the breakup of the Communist Party in 1926. He was convinced that Russia’s designs were actively to steal our country. He saw that China had become a test case for all kinds of treachery, and that these treacheries were henceforth to be used by Russia as a ploy against the world.
President Chiang was the first of the world’s statesmen to expose the conspiracy of the Communists and the first to set out against them. A few years ago, he was first praised for his anti-communist courage and perseverance. Now he is being scorned. Times have changed, but the man has not. My husband continues to lead his people, with an indomitable spirit, against the invasion of the foreigners and their heresies.
Our people are determined to continue to fight for our country. As long as we live, as long as there are foreigners in China, we will continue our struggle with a place, whether it is an island like Taiwan or a fortress in the mountains. I tell you this in order to state facts, not to dramatize political views.
Morally cowardly people are now abandoning us. It is with a heavy heart that I see that England, once an ally, which in the past gave millions of its lives at the altar of freedom, has been led by its leaders into the clutches of political intrigue. Britain has sold the soul of a nation for a few pieces of silver, and I say, “Shame on you”! The interest earned on these few pieces of silver is the blood, sweat and tears that will be paid on the battlefield of freedom. Whoever is morally evil will never be politically just.
What truth requires of all peoples is to live in an atmosphere of human freedom and dignity according to their own traditions, which is the essence of Chinese culture. Our people – i.e., those who face the power of foreigners, even their bodies enslaved by foreign violence, as long as their eyes see the beacon of freedom in the base of Taiwan – will never abandon Chinese culture. Our souls are free, and our minds are at ease. Therefore, we will do our best.
In this battle for freedom, even if some of us are killed, there will be others who will fight on our behalf, and the aggressors will not find peace for a day. No powerful nation can sign a treaty, no politician can draft a contract that would stifle the Chinese people’s desire for freedom. Mothers will sing it in their lullabies, fathers will talk about it at the dinner table, and young students will call each other with the code words of freedom. Although the peasant is deprived, the soil still grows, but it gives the enemy not grapes and figs, but thorns and thistles.
The liberation of China from its alien conquerors was made possible by the great revolutionary movement initiated by Dr. Sun Yat-sen, which developed into a mass movement that finally expelled the invaders and created the Republic of China.
This fact cannot be denied by any force. We have never relied on force, but only on the principles on which we were founded. Other peoples may discard these principles for their own gain. But we have to hold on to them with even greater perseverance at this critical juncture of survival. This indomitable spirit is perhaps an indication that we have the oldest history of any nation in the world.
The traditional friendship between the United States and China has a history as old as that of the United States. Many of your citizens have been hosts in our country. Your people have given us aid and have given us solace. What you have given is a gift of love, and you have never asked for anything in return. Your names will always be cherished as symbols of friendship and compassion.
I can ask nothing more of the American people. I have made no speeches, no appeals during the months of my stay in your country. Although my country is in dire need of your assistance, I have never competed for it.
I will tell you why I was so silent. When a nation takes a righteous action, just as when a man does a good deed, it must be done out of his conscience, not out of the request or demand of others. There is action out of mercy, there is action out of compassion, and there is action out of justice. And justice is good, because it is good in itself.
Perhaps you think I am proud? Our friends! My country has been humiliated, my government now stands alone on an island overseas, Bruce of Scotland has come out of his cave to stand with his people, and we will come out of our island to stand with our people.
At such a time, it is impossible to plead and yet be able to maintain dignity. You love us or you have abandoned us, and you know it in your hearts.
It is up to you to decide whether you aid China in its struggle for freedom, or whether you have already abandoned it.
What promises can I make to you? What guarantee can I make to you? Do I have to compete with people who pay lip service to what they do?
We stand with outstretched hands that are empty and willing to receive aid, and we stand humbled and weary. We ask for peace and rest even more urgently than we ask for rice and bread, but we cannot give up the struggle for freedom, we will never give up the struggle for freedom. With or without assistance, China will never give up the struggle for freedom.
It takes longer to fight alone, and the sacrifice of life is greater; with assistance, we gain victory more quickly. But in any case, we will be free.
Our troops are determined to fight, and, convinced that the human instinct for freedom and justice will prevail, they pledge to continue to fight. The facts tell us that justice will prevail.
Russia (the Russian Communist Party and the Chinese Communist Party, which it supports) will never enjoy a day of peace in China. Russia will never be able to possess China. China will surely be free.
My friends! Bye. Thank you!
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