President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday said various historical documents “clearly showed” that Taiwan “returned to the embrace” of the Republic of China (ROC) in 1945 after Japan signed the Instrument of Surrender to bring an end to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.
Authorities have detained three former Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TMSC, 台積電) employees on suspicion of compromising classified technology used in making 2-nanometer chips, the Taiwan High Prosecutors’ Office said yesterday. Prosecutors are holding a former TSMC engineer surnamed Chen (陳) and two recently sacked TSMC engineers, including one person surnamed Wu (吳) in detention with restricted communication, following an investigation launched on July 25, a statement said. The announcement came a day after Nikkei Asia reported on the technology theft in an exclusive story, saying TSMC had fired two workers for contravening data rules on advanced chipmaking technology. Two-nanometer wafers are the most
DEFENSE: The first set of three NASAMS that were previously purchased is expected to be delivered by the end of this year and deployed near the capital, sources said Taiwan plans to procure 28 more sets of M-142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), as well as nine additional sets of National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS), military sources said yesterday. Taiwan had previously purchased 29 HIMARS launchers from the US and received the first 11 last year. Once the planned purchases are completed and delivered, Taiwan would have 57 sets of HIMARS. The army has also increased the number of MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) purchased from 64 to 84, the sources added. Each HIMARS launch pod can carry six Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems, capable of
CHINA’s BULLYING: The former British prime minister said that he believes ‘Taiwan can and will’ protect its freedom and democracy, as its people are lovers of liberty Former British prime minister Boris Johnson yesterday said Western nations should have the courage to stand with and deepen their economic partnerships with Taiwan in the face of China’s intensified pressure. He made the remarks at the ninth Ketagalan Forum: 2025 Indo-Pacific Security Dialogue hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Prospect Foundation in Taipei. Johnson, who is visiting Taiwan for the first time, said he had seen Taiwan’s coastline on a screen on his indoor bicycle, but wanted to learn more about the nation, including its artificial intelligence (AI) development, the key technology of the 21st century. Calling himself an
South Korea yesterday said that it was removing loudspeakers used to blare K-pop and news reports to North Korea, as the new administration in Seoul tries to ease tensions with its bellicose neighbor. The nations, still technically at war, had already halted propaganda broadcasts along the demilitarized zone, Seoul’s military said in June after the election of South Korean President Lee Jae-myung. It said in June that Pyongyang stopped transmitting bizarre, unsettling noises along the border that had become a major nuisance for South Korean residents, a day after South Korea’s loudspeakers fell silent. “Starting today, the military has begun removing the loudspeakers,”
RSS