The "Flying Tigers" are roaring again in China. At least in the official media. The China Daily, the official daily newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party's propaganda department, went back in great detail on Monday, November 13, on the ten days spent in China by these American veterans of the Second World War.
He was not the only one to pay tribute to those pilots who had volunteered to help China defend itself against Japan between April 1941 and July 1942. The Global Times and the official Xinhua news agency have also published articles in recent weeks to commemorate the First American Volunteer Group and their visit to China at the invitation of the government.
A letter from Xi Jinping
Two of those former fighter jet pilots — Harry Moyer and Mel McMullen — even received a letter signed by Chinese President Xi Jinping in September. He praised the spirit of cooperation among the volunteers and said that "relations between China and the United States need a new generation of 'Flying Tigers'," notes the UK's Financial Times.
The Chinese leader is thus establishing a great historical (air) bridge between this episode of the Second World War and the current era, marked by repeated tensions in Sino-American relations.
It is, in fact, no coincidence that China seems to have been obsessed for the past two months with the memory of some 300 American fighters who helped the Chinese. "It's a way of sending a message on the eve of an important meeting between Xi Jinping and US President Joe Biden," said Ho Ting Bosco Hung, a China expert at the International Team for the Study of Security in Verona (ITSS Verona).
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The two leaders are due to meet face-to-face on Wednesday 15 November, on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit in San Francisco (United States).
The meeting was eagerly awaited at a time when there is no shortage of points of contention - technological competition, trade conflict, very different views on the war in Ukraine or the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
Beijing seems to have chosen history to show that the Chinese "don't want the tone of the meeting with Joe Biden to be aggressive," said Robert Weatherley, an expert on Chinese politics and a research associate at the University of Cambridge's School of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies.
Reading Between the Historical Lines
This is a real fixed idea for the Chinese government, "known for regularly invoking history to justify its action," notes Ho Ting Bosco Hung. In 2020, he said that even archaeology should be put at the service of politics.
The celebration of the "Flying Tigers" is a perfect example of this approach. Beijing can hope that the message is well understood on both sides of the Pacific. In China, the epic story of these pilots is well known, and they even have a museum in the southern city of Guilin. They also had their moment of glory on the other side of the Pacific "thanks in part to the 1942 film 'Flying Tigers' starring John Wayne," notes Todd Hall, director of the China Centre at Oxford University.
In Xi Jinping's eyes, the reference to the epic of these American pilots is worth more than a long speech to convey multiple messages. The Chinese president's main goal would be to "relativize the current tensions by placing them in the context of a long history of friendship between the two countries, symbolized by this common fight against the Japanese invader," said Xin Fan, a Chinese history expert at the University of Cambridge's Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies.
It is also a way for the Chinese president to put himself on the right side of history. By extolling the merits of these pilots, "he reminds us that China was fighting against tyranny [Japan was part of the Axis, the military alliance formed around Nazi Germany, editor's note]," said Marc Lanteigne, a sinologist at the Arctic University of Norway.
The Chinese media also all insist on the personal commitment of these pilots who have chosen to help China. This is a way of suggesting to Washington that beyond the differences between leaders, "there are simple Americans who want to have better relations with China," says Todd Hall.
This message is all the more important for Beijing to convey as "Joe Biden is entering a delicate political year with the 2024 presidential election and one of the few topics that brings Democrats and Republicans together is criticism of China. By invoking the 'Flying Tigers', Beijing wants to remind the US president not to limit himself to taking into account the opinion of politicians," said Marc Lanteigne.
An olive branch?
For this specialist, this little historical reminder "is also a subtle way of getting a message across about Taiwan". The status of the island - an integral part of China for Beijing and whose autonomy is defended tooth and nail by Washington - is one of the main sources of tension between the two superpowers.
In this context, "pointing out that the 'Flying Tigers' fought for the Republic of China – even before the People's Republic of China was founded – serves as a reminder that the United States supported a country in which mainland China and Taiwan were part of the same entity," Lanteigne said.
All in all, this "Flying Tigers" PR operation is like an olive branch that Xi Jinping is taking with him to San Francisco. It is also a way to cover his back in China if the meeting with Joe Biden goes wrong. "The multiplication of references to this episode of the Second World War in the official media is a way for the authorities to indicate to Chinese public opinion that Xi Jinping went to the Apec summit in a state of appeasement," said Ho Ting Bosco Hung.
However, this does not necessarily mean that Chinese diplomacy will now move from an attitude of confrontation with the United States to a frantic search for appeasement. Certainly, in the context of economic difficulties in China, Beijing needs to nurture its relations and "wants to present a friendlier and more peaceful image that seeks to collaborate with others [like the Flying Tigers episode]," notes Robert Weatherley. You have to know how to show your best profile to potential foreign investors.
But "internally, the official media continue to bash the United States and its foreign policy," Lanteigne said. The glorification of the "Flying Tigers" even serves to emphasize that the United States has gone from a power ready to defend peace - as against Japan during the Second World War - to a superpower which, according to the Chinese media, would show a "warmongering" spirit in Ukraine or the Middle East.
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