President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday said various historical documents “clearly showed” that Taiwan “returned to the embrace” of the Republic of China (ROC) in 1945 after Japan signed the Instrument of Surrender to bring an end to World War II.
Although China ceded full sovereignty of Taiwan and all its islands to Japan in perpetuity in the 1895 Treaty of Shimonoseki, nobody would have imagined that Taiwan would “return to the embrace” of the ROC 50 years later, Ma said.
The 1943 Cairo Communique, worked out by the ROC president Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石), then-US president Franklin Roosevelt and then-British prime minister Winston Churchill, said Japan should return Taiwan, Penghu and other territories in northeast China that it had “stolen” from the Chinese, Ma said.
The Potsdam Declaration of 1945 reaffirmed the Cairo Communique and gave the ROC the right to take sovereignty over Taiwan and Penghu, he said.
According to Ma, in its Instrument of Surrender, Japan accepted the terms of the Potsdam Declaration and former US president Harry Truman also accepted the idea that sovereignty over Taiwan was settled as the US Department of State said that the US and other Allied powers accepted the exercise of Chinese authority over Formosa, which was surrendered to Chiang.
The 1952 Sino-Japanese Peace Treaty (also known as the Treaty of Taipei) affirmed the 1951 San Francisco Peace Treaty, and stated that the Japanese government would renounce any claims to Taiwan, Penghu, the Spratly Islands and the Paracel Islands, Ma said, adding that the 1952 treaty “asserted” that the legal successor government of the territories was the ROC.
“All of this is very clear and [represents] legal and political evidence,” Ma said.
Although the Japanese built “some” infrastructure in Taiwan, Ma said, its rule was abusive and high-handed.
“However, all this is history. I am not trying to incite hatred, but while we can forgive the mistake of the Japanese invasion, we must not forget the history of blood and tears,” he said.
Ma made the remarks at the opening ceremony of a special exhibit in commemoration of the 65th anniversary of the victory in the war of resistance against the Japanese and the “retrocession” of Taiwan at Taipei Zhongshan Hall yesterday morning.
Zhongshan Hall was where the ROC government accepted the surrender of Japan in 1945.
The exhibition was organized by the Taiwan Provincial Government and the Taipei City Government.
Ma said wars must be honored, but peace must be emphasized, and the reason his administration chose to commemorate the 65th anniversary of the victory in the war of resistance was to make the public feel proud of Taiwan because “Taiwan has become the Taiwanese people’s Taiwan and the ROC’s Taiwan.”
Deputy Taipei Mayor Allen Chiu (邱文祥) pledged to build Taipei into “the capital of all Chinese of the 21st century.”
Taiwan Provincial Government Governor Lin Jung-tzer (林政則) said the eight-year war of resistance was led by Chinese Nationlist Party (KMT) troops and because of their victory, Taiwan and Penghu were able to “retrocede” from the hands of the Japanese.
FIREPOWER: On top of the torpedoes, the military would procure Kestrel II anti-tank weapons systems to replace aging license-produced M72 LAW launchers Taiwan is to receive US-made Mark 48 torpedoes and training simulators over the next three years, following delays that hampered the navy’s operational readiness, the Ministry of National Defense’s latest budget proposal showed. The navy next year would acquire four training simulator systems for the torpedoes and take receipt of 14 torpedoes in 2027 and 10 torpedoes in 2028, the ministry said in its budget for the next fiscal year. The torpedoes would almost certainly be utilized in the navy’s two upgraded Chien Lung-class submarines and the indigenously developed Hai Kun, should the attack sub successfully reach operational status. US President Donald Trump
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is expected to start construction of its 1.4-nanometer chip manufacturing facilities at the Central Taiwan Science Park (CTSP, 中部科學園區) as early as October, the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) reported yesterday, citing the park administration. TSMC acquired land for the second phase of the park’s expansion in Taichung in June. Large cement, construction and facility engineering companies in central Taiwan have reportedly been receiving bids for TSMC-related projects, the report said. Supply-chain firms estimated that the business opportunities for engineering, equipment and materials supply, and back-end packaging and testing could reach as high as
ALL QUIET: The Philippine foreign secretary told senators she would not respond to questions about whether Lin Chia-lung was in the country The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Wednesday confirmed that a business delegation is visiting the Philippines, but declined to say whether Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) is part of the group, as Philippine lawmakers raised questions over Lin’s reported visit. The group is being led by Deputy Minister of Agriculture Huang Chao-chin (黃昭欽), Chinese International Economic Cooperation Association (CIECA) chairman Joseph Lyu (呂桔誠) and US-Taiwan Business Council (USTBC) vice president Lotta Danielsson, the ministry said in a statement. However, sources speaking on condition of anonymity said that Lin is leading the delegation of 70 people. Filinvest New Clark City Innovation Park
TPP RALLY: The clashes occurred near the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall on Saturday at a rally to mark the anniversary of a raid on former TPP chairman Ko Wen-je People who clashed with police at a Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) rally in Taipei on Saturday would be referred to prosecutors for investigation, said the Ministry of the Interior, which oversees the National Police Agency. Taipei police had collected evidence of obstruction of public officials and coercion by “disorderly” demonstrators, as well as contraventions of the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法), the ministry said in a statement on Sunday. It added that amid the “severe pushing and jostling” by some demonstrators, eight police officers were injured, including one who was sent to hospital after losing consciousness, allegedly due to heat stroke. The Taipei
RSS