Cairo Conference

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See also: International Conference on Population and Development  and Cairo Anti-war Conference

Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Prime Minister Winston Churchill met at the Cairo Conference in Cairo, 11/25/1943.

The Cairo Conference (codenamed "SEXTANT") of November 22-November 26, 1943, held in Cairo, Egypt, addressed the Allied position against Japan during World War II and made decisions about postwar Asia. The meeting was attended by President Franklin Roosevelt of the United States, Prime Minister Winston Churchill of the United Kingdom, and Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek of the Republic of China. Stalin of the Soviet Union had refused to attend the conference on the grounds that since Chiang Kai-Shek was attending, it would cause untimely provocation between Russia and Japan.

Stalin did meet two days later with Roosevelt and Churchill in Tehran, Iran for the Tehran Conference.

The Cairo Declaration was signed on 27 November 1943 ^[1], and released in an Cairo Communiqué through radio on 1 December 1943 ^[2], stating the Allies' intentions to continue deploying military force until Japan's unconditional surrender. The three main clauses of the Cairo Declaration are that "Japan be stripped of all the islands in the Pacific which she has seized or occupied since the beginning of the First World War in 1914", "all the territories Japan has stolen from the Chinese, such as Manchuria, Formosa, and the Pescadores, shall be restored to the Republic of China", and that "in due course Korea shall become free and independent".

[edit] Modern Day Implications for Taiwan

The legitimacy of the Cairo Declaration has been challenged by Taiwan independence supporters in recent years. Some supporters of Taiwan independence claim that it is merely a trivial press release, holding no legal meaning. On the other hand, supporters of Chinese reunification argue that the Cairo Declaration is a legitimate historical document, given the fact that it was cited by clause eight of the Potsdam Declaration and referred to by the Japanese Instrument of Surrender. The dispute centers upon whether the Japanese Instrument of Surrender transferred Taiwan's sovereignty to China, as opposed to being a provisional modus vivendi that has been supplanted. See Legal status of Taiwan for further information.

[edit] References

1. ^ "Text of Cairo Declaration in the Japanese National Diet Library", Japan National Diet Library, November 27, 1943. 
2. ^ "Cairo Communiqué received by the radio operators in USA", Japan National Diet Library, December 1, 1943. 

[edit] External links

• United States Department of State Foreign relations of the United States diplomatic papers, The Conferences at Cairo and Tehran, 1943

[edit] See also

• Imperialism in Asia
• Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945)
• Atlantic Charter (1941)
• Tehran Conference (1943)
• Dumbarton Oaks Conference (1944)
• Potsdam Declaration (1945)
• Japanese Instrument of Surrender (1945)
• Treaty of San Francisco (1951)
• political status of Taiwan
• Treaty of Peace and Friendship between Japan and the People's Republic of China (1978)
• List of World War II conferences
• Alternative meanings: International Conference on Population and Development (1994), Cairo Anti-war Conference (2002, 2003, 2005)
• Cairo Anti-war Conference: For the contemporary Cairo Conference against U.S. hegemony and war on Iraq and in solidarity with Palestine