China is misrepresenting the Cairo Declaration and other World War II-era documents to support its coercive actions toward Taiwan, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said on Friday.
On Sept. 3, Beijing staged a military parade to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, promoting a narrative that it had “won the war” and citing the Cairo Declaration and other wartime documents to claim that Japan had returned Taiwan’s sovereignty to China.
In response to media inquiries, an AIT spokesperson said Beijing was deliberately twisting the meaning of the 1943 Cairo Declaration, the 1945 Potsdam Declaration and the 1951 Treaty of San Francisco in an effort to support its coercive actions toward Taiwan.
Photo: Reuters
“Beijing’s narrative is totally wrong,” the AIT spokesperson said, adding that none of those documents determined Taiwan’s ultimate political status.
Employing such false legal narratives is part of a broader campaign to isolate Taiwan internationally and restrict other countries’ sovereign choices in how they engage with Taipei, the spokesperson added.
The remarks echoed Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung’s (林佳龍) comments in a July 7 speech at a forum in Taipei, where he said that the Cairo and Potsdam declarations were political statements expressing the Allies’ wartime intentions, not binding treaties.
Lin also said that the 1951 Treaty of San Francisco — a formal agreement signed between Japan and the Allied Powers after the war — supersedes wartime declarations in legal authority, as it formally addressed the disposition of territories occupied by Japan.
The AIT’s remarks are not the first time Washington has raised such concerns. The US government has previously said that, just as Beijing has distorted UN Resolution 2758, it is again attempting to twist the meaning of WWII-era documents to justify coercion against Taiwan.
On Wednesday, US Representative Chris Smith, cochair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, introduced a resolution condemning the Chinese Communist Party’s historical revisionism and its attempt to claim credit for the Allied victory in Asia.
In Taipei, a source familiar with foreign affairs said yesterday that three points stand out in Washington’s stance on Taiwan’s unresolved international status.
First, Beijing is promoting this year as a milestone of three “80th anniversaries” — the victory of the “War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression,” the establishment of the UN and what it calls “Taiwan Restoration.”
By pairing such narratives with legal warfare and military displays, China is seeking to distort the international order established by the democratic world and replace it with one defined by Beijing and other authoritarian regimes, the source said.
Second, the presence of Russian President Vladimir Putin, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian at its Sept. 3 military parade showed Beijing’s intention to position itself in opposition to the democratic camp, they said.
Third, Beijing is again attempting to distort UN Resolution 2758, particularly during the UN General Assembly session, to advance the false narrative that Taiwan is part of China, the source added.
Such actions openly challenge the international order that has existed since the UN’s founding 80 years ago, making it unsurprising that Washington has chosen this moment to make clear its stance, they said.
Separately, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs welcomed and thanked the AIT for clearly stating the US’ position on Taiwan and for denying China’s claims, calling it further evidence of Washington’s firm support for Taiwan’s international participation.
“The Republic of China and the People’s Republic of China [PRC] are not subordinate to one another,” the ministry said, adding that it is an objective fact and the PRC has no right to represent Taiwan in the international community.
The Chinese government has recently launched a massive campaign of “legal warfare,” seeking to alter the regional “status quo,” legitimize its aggression, and undermine peace and stability, it said.
As a responsible member of the international community, Taiwan would continue to uphold the “status quo,” while encouraging more countries to speak out against China’s false narratives, it said.
Taiwan would also deepen cooperation with the US and other like-minded partners to safeguard peace, stability and prosperity in the region, it added.
Additional reporting by Su Yong-yao and Lee I-chia
The Central Election Commission has amended election and recall regulations to require elected office candidates to provide proof that they have no Chinese citizenship, a Cabinet report said. The commission on Oct. 29 last year revised the Measures for the Permission of Family-based Residence, Long-term Residence and Settlement of People from the Mainland Area in the Taiwan Area (大陸地區人民在台灣地區依親居留長期居留或定居許可辦法), the Executive Yuan said in a report it submitted to the legislature for review. The revision requires Chinese citizens applying for permanent residency to submit notarial documents showing that they have lost their Chinese household record and have renounced — or have never
A magnitude 5.6 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 12:37pm today, with clear shaking felt across much of northern Taiwan. There were no immediate reports of damage. The epicenter of the quake was 16.9km east-southeast of Yilan County Hall offshore at a depth of 66.8km, Central Weather Administration (CWA) data showed. The maximum intensity registered at a 4 in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳) on Taiwan’s seven-tier scale. Other parts of Yilan, as well as certain areas of Hualien County, Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Hsinchu County, Taichung and Miaoli County, recorded intensities of 3. Residents of Yilan County and Taipei received
Taiwan has secured another breakthrough in fruit exports, with jujubes, dragon fruit and lychees approved for shipment to the EU, the Ministry of Agriculture said yesterday. The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency on Thursday received formal notification of the approval from the EU, the ministry said, adding that the decision was expected to expand Taiwanese fruit producers’ access to high-end European markets. Taiwan exported 126 tonnes of lychees last year, valued at US$1.48 million, with Japan accounting for 102 tonnes. Other export destinations included New Zealand, Hong Kong, the US and Australia, ministry data showed. Jujube exports totaled 103 tonnes, valued at
BIG SPENDERS: Foreign investors bought the most Taiwan equities since 2005, signaling confidence that an AI boom would continue to benefit chipmakers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) market capitalization swelled to US$2 trillion for the first time following a 4.25 percent rally in its American depositary receipts (ADR) overnight, putting the world’s biggest contract chipmaker sixth on the list of the world’s biggest companies by market capitalization, just behind Amazon.com Inc. The site CompaniesMarketcap.com ranked TSMC ahead of Saudi Aramco and Meta Platforms Inc. The Taiwanese company’s ADRs on Tuesday surged to US$385.75 on the New York Stock Exchange, as strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) applications led to chip supply constraints and boost revenue growth to record-breaking levels. Each TSMC ADR represents
RSS