A key document used by Beijing to justify its claims that Taiwan is a part of China never had any legally binding power, the Formosan Association for Public Affairs (FAPA) said, citing a recent letter from a senior official at the US National Archives and Records Administration (NARA).
Founded in 1982 by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chai Trong-rong (蔡同榮), FAPA is a Washington-based interest group that seeks to build up support in the US for Taiwan independence.
The association said in a statement last week that, according to NARA, the 1943 Cairo Declaration, signed by US president Franklin Roosevelt, British prime minister Winston Churchill and Republic of China (ROC) dictator Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) at the end of WWII, was merely a "communique" and thus non-binding.
Among other provisions, the communique states that Japan shall "return Formosa," or Taiwan, to "the Chinese."
"The document is merely a moment in time," FAPA president CT Lee (
"Although important at the time," he added, "it does not have any legally binding power almost 65 years later enabling either the KMT [Chinese Nationalist Party] or [China] to derive territorial claims from."
In response to a FAPA letter of inquiry as to the declaration's status, NARA assistant archivist for Records Services, Michael Kurtz, wrote in a letter dated June 5 that "the declaration [is] a communique, and does not have treaty series or executive agreement series numbers."
FAPA said that the document's archival status as a "communique" and neither an official agreement nor a treaty, negates any legal claims based on the declaration by China or the KMT that Taiwan is a part of China.
"This marks the first time the US government has officially gone on record to elaborate the lack of legal binding power of the Cairo Declaration, and thus voids the basis of both the KMT's and Beijing's mythic `One China Principle' claims," the association said in the statement.
Despite its status in the US National Archives as a communique, however, the declaration is included in a US State Department publication titled, Treaties and Other International Agreements of the United States of America, Kurtz wrote, without explaining the apparent contradiction.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as
RSS