•Publication Date：12/03/2013
•Source： Taiwan Today
President Ma Ying-jeou reaffirmed the validity of the Cairo Declaration as an international treaty Dec. 2, stating that it is the legal basis upon which Taiwan was restored to the ROC post-World War II.
“In fact, the declaration is a treaty because there is no prescribed formality in terms of such agreements. From the advent of international law, there has been 24 designations for treaties, including the declaration,” Ma said.
“From the perspective of international law, any concrete promise made by an official of a country in their capacity as head of state, prime minister or minister of foreign affairs is legally binding.”
Ma made the remarks while receiving foreign dignities attending the International Conference of the 70th Anniversary of the Cairo Declaration at the Presidential Office in Taipei City. They included Laurens Jan Brinkhorst, former deputy prime minister of the Netherlands; Emma Mary Soames, granddaughter of late British Prime Minister Winston Churchill; William A. Stanton, former director of the American Institute in Taiwan; and Robert Underwood, president of the University of Guam.
Issued Dec. 1, 1943, following the previous month’s Cairo Conference held by late President Chiang Kai-shek, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the declaration stipulates the return of territories stolen by Japan, including Taiwan, to the ROC.
Ma said the declaration was repeatedly mentioned in important documents such as the Potsdam Proclamation and Japan’s Instrument of Surrender, both in 1945.
The three documents have been integrated into one, Ma said, adding that in the following decades, the U.S. State Department and Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs have considered the Cairo Declaration a treaty or international pact.
“Late U.S. President Harry Truman’s issued a statement Jan. 5, 1950, in which the three documents were cited, showing that all countries accepted the fact that the ROC exercises sovereignty over Taiwan,” he added.
As to the Peace Treaty of San Francisco, which was signed between the Allies and Japan in 1951 formally ending World War II, Ma said it was regrettable that no ROC representative was invited due to the Chinese civil war at the time.
Concerning claims that the San Francisco Treaty did not specify to which country Japan surrendered Taiwan, and consequent charges that the island’s status remains unsettled, Ma said Article 26 clearly empowers countries to sign similar treaties with Japan, which led to the ones concluded by the ROC and former Soviet Union with Tokyo.
The president was referring to the ROC-Japan Peace Treaty signed April 28, 1952, also known as the Treaty of Taipei. “That pact clearly states that Taiwan is part of ROC territory and I think it is time to put an end to any dispute over Taiwan’s status.”
Ma said despite undergoing numerous trials and tribulations since its founding over a century ago, the ROC has continued developing apace, epitomizing Churchill’s famous quote “Never give in.”
On foreign relations, although the ROC has only 22 diplomatic allies, the number of countries and territories granting its citizens visa-waiver or landing-visa treatment increased from 54 to 134 since he took office in May 2008, Ma said.
The nation’s perseverance is best described in one of Churchill’s speeches, the president added. “If we are together nothing is impossible. If we are divided all will fail.”
