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.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS