The photograph of the Cairo Conference is one of the most famous photographs of the Allies' wartime leaders: British prime minister Winston Churchill, US president Franklin Roosevelt and ROC Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek (
But one lawmaker says the famed photo is a work of fiction and its use in historical textbooks could be misleading Taiwanese students about the reality of the Cairo Declaration.
"The photo, provided by Madam Chiang, had been used in every textbook of history for 50 years to illustrate the existence of the three leaders' historic meeting in Cairo. The truth is, however, that neither the leaders nor the generalissimo's wife was in Cairo when the so-called Cairo Declaration was first unveiled on Dec. 1, 1943," said Taiwan Solidarity Union Legislator Lo Chih-ming (羅志明) at a public hearing yesterday.
Lo urged that the National Institute for Compilation and Translation -- the government body responsible for supervising and approving school textbooks -- should correct caption that goes with the photograph because, he says, it misleads people into thinking that it was taken in Cairo during the trilateral meeting.
But Lo did not know where the picture had been taken and officials from the institute said they have yet to check on exactly where the trilateral meeting did take place.
In December 1943, the "Three Great Powers" -- Britain, the US and the Republic of China -- released what has since been called the Cairo Declaration. The communique, although unsigned, expressed their common intent to restrain and punish Japan for its aggression. It also said that "all the territories Japan has stolen from the Chinese, such as Manchuria, Formosa, and the Pescadores, shall be restored to the Republic of China."
At the hearing yesterday, Lo charged that the compilation and translation institute had given improper stress and context to the Cairo meeting -- and the Cairo declaration -- when producing the history textbooks used in schools. He noted that many people disagree with the textbooks' interpretation that the declaration legitimized the Chinese Nationalist Party's claim to have recovered sovereignty over Taiwan in 1945.
Lo said that he held the hearing yesterday to hear scholarly opinions on the legitimacy of the Cairo Declaration and its applicability when interpreting Taiwan's international status.
Yang Kuo-yang (
One speaker, Sim Kian-tek (沈建德), denied the idea that the Cairo Declaration determined Taiwan's status. He also asserted there were problems with the legitimacy and legality of the declaration.
"The so-called declaration was initially a press communique," he said. "And despite the fact that the English newspaper, The Times, reported the release of the press communique from Cairo on Dec. 1, 1943, none of the three leaders were in the Egyptian capital when it was issued.
Roosevelt and Churchill were in Tehran to sign a pact with Soviet leader Josef Stalin when the historical document was released, while Generalissimo Chiang and his wife stayed in China, Sim said.
"A press communique without the leaders' signatures and without their presence at the time of the release should not be counted as legitimate. The discussion of Taiwan's international status cannot be based upon a debatable declaration," said Sim, a former business management professor who in 1993 shifted his focus to the legal study of Taiwan's international status.
But Sim's assertion conflicted with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' interpretation that the Cairo Declaration created, with the three leaders' approval, the legal and legitimate basis for Taiwan's transfer from Japan's to the ROC.
Deputy foreign minister Michael Kuo (
However, in the world of politics, the intent and legitimacy of the declaration is internationally recognized, Kuo said.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
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