The late Chinese President Deng Xiaoping’s former Translator Victor Gao compares Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to the Cuban Missile Crisis, highlighting similar concerns.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00So, Mr. Gao, do you think that China thinks that Russia was justified in invading Ukraine?
00:06Well, that's for history to decide.
00:10I think no country has any right to maximize its security to cause a threat to other country.
00:19Now, the war in Ukraine reminds me of what the United States and President Kennedy did
00:24in 1962.
00:26The former Soviet Union wanted to base missiles in Cuba.
00:30Cuba was a sovereign country.
00:33The former Soviet Union was a sovereign country.
00:35But why should the United States rose up and oppose that?
00:38Why should President Kennedy be ranked as one of the greatest presidents in U.S. history?
00:44Because President Kennedy did the right thing.
00:46He forced the former Union to withdraw missiles from Cuba because the United States reasonably
00:53believed that the Soviet-based missile in Cuba would constitute a threat to the United
01:00States.
01:01So, Russia may have reasons to believe that if Ukraine becomes a member of NATO, their
01:07survivability and security will be fundamentally threatened.
01:12That's why Russia has been saying, over my dead body.