Pro-independence activists yesterday visited the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) to question the validity of the Cairo Declaration, which is often cited as proof that Taiwan's sovereignty was ceded to China in 1943.
Advocates for the establishment of the "Taiwan Republic" denounced the idea that Taiwan's sovereignty belongs to China based on the Cairo Declaration.
They said the document was no more than a press communique issued by then US president Franklin Roosevelt, British prime minister Winston Churchill and Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek (蔣中正) at their meeting in Cairo on Nov. 27, 1943, to discuss the war against Japan.
The Cairo Conference ended with the three leaders endorsing a statement to continue war against Japan until its unconditional surrender and promising to strip Japan of all territory acquired since 1895.
Peter Wang (
"A press communique that wasn't signed by any of the leaders at the time later became the evidence that Taiwan's sovereignty belongs to China. Many Taiwanese continue to live with this lie," Wang said.
Wang said the San Francisco Peace Treaty is the only legally binding international agreement that has a bearing on Taiwan's sovereignty.
The treaty, signed by Japan and 48 other countries in 1951, states in Chapter 2 that Japan renounces all rights, title and claims to Formosa and the Pescadores (Penghu County). However, no mention is made of who will be left in control of these territories, leaving the question of Taiwan's sovereignty undecided.
MOFA spokesman Michel Lu (
Any changes to the sovereignty issue must be made by legislative means, and the ministry has no power to change the name of the country unless legislative changes are made that allow it to do so, Lu said.
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