Response to Senator Hawley National Security Speech

Senator Josh Hawley Delivers National Security Speech ‘China and Ukraine: A Time for Truth’.

Dear Senator Hawley,

1. Russia is an ally of China.
2. Helping Ukraine helps to weaken a Chinese ally thus weakens China’s geopolitical standing.
3. Russian victory in Ukraine would increase China’s geopolitical standing.
4. Thus, if we perceive China as a main U.S rival, it is imperative that we do everything to help Ukraine and to weaken Russia.
5. Ukrainian victory in the war against Russia helps the United States geopolitically.
6. U.S support for Ukraine also re-assures its NATO allies, particularly eastern flank allies, that they will be protected from Russian invasion.
7. Russia will never support the United States against China. It is far more likely that a supposed U.S main ally Germany will side with China in the U.S-China rivalry.
8. It is dangerous to openly argue that the United States cannot fight two rivals at the same time. Defeatist approach to foreign policy has never been successful. Furthermore, it is quite likely that the forces and weapons used in the possible war between China and the U.S will be different from weapons that the United States provides to Ukraine.
9. We fear that the arguments that support scaling down U.S assistance to Ukraine reflect pervasive Russian influence in American society.
10. Finally, it has become too common that the debates about foreign policy reflect domestic political debates. Support for Ukraine should not be seen through the light of internal U.S politics. That will only weaken the United States standing abroad.
11. However, even if we do look at this from the perspective of internal U.S politics, this type of rhetoric has a great impact on the choices made by the diaspora communities from East and Central Europe including the 10 million strong Polish-American community. These communities see clearly who the aggressor in the war is and are very wary that the war will spread. Politicians that argue for scaling down support for Ukraine will drive those voters into the arms of their opponents.

We strongly believe that support for Ukraine should be bipartisan and strong.

Leszek Pawlik, President
Coalition of Polish Americans