Letters | What is Ukraine fighting for? The same thing wartime China valued

Readers discuss the cost of compromise in war, marriage equality for Hong Kong, and why the city must not be complacent about talent retention

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A woman displays a portrait of a Ukrainian serviceman in a memorial area to fallen Ukrainian and foreign fighters at Kyiv’s Independence Square on May 27. Photo: AFP

Published: 11:30am, 25 Jun 2024

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At the Shangri-La Dialogue, Major General Xu Hui of the People’s Liberation Army was reported as asking whether Kyiv truly understands its objectives in the Ukraine-Russia war and urging President Volodymyr Zelensky to consider preventing further casualties. I was reminded of a trip I took to Wu Kau Tang a few weeks ago.

While hiking, I passed the Cenotaph for Martyrs in memory of the Hong Kong Independent Battalion of the Dongjiang Column, an anti-Japanese aggression guerilla force. A young child asked, “What is this?” and his mother replied, “We honour the fallen heroes here.”

In 1942, Japanese forces surrounded the village, demanding that villagers reveal the guerillas’ locations. The villagers, tortured for their silence, could have chosen survival by giving in, but they didn’t. Their sacrifice was echoed through the nation during the Japanese invasion. Wang Ching-wei, head of the Nanjing puppet regime, argued for a “peace movement” to save lives. Yet the nation chose resistance. Why?

The cost of compromise is starkly illustrated by those who submitted: Puyi, as head of the puppet state of Manchukuo, lost his freedom under Japanese control. Compromise often means the loss of dignity, freedom and humanity.

Ukraine has paid a high price in the war – human lives, economic resources – as seen in Bucha, Kremenchuk and Mariupol. We wish to save people from endless agony and rebuild peace. However, those advocating for Ukrainian surrender must evaluate the cost of such a move beyond the immediate conflict.