Taipei: China intentionally misunderstood the World War II era documents to exert pressure on Taiwan’s isolated NTD because these agreements did not determine the ultimate political status of the island, Taipei’s ultimate political status.
The 80th anniversary of the war’s doomsday is a fierce controversy between Taipei and Beijing over the broader historical implications and relevance today.
Beijing said documents such as the Cairo Declaration and the Potsdam Proclamation supported its legal claims on the island as they called on Taiwan to “restore” Chinese rule while the Japanese colonies.
The Chinese government at that time was the Republic of China, which fled to Taiwan after losing the civil war with Mao Zedong’s communists in 1949. The Republic of China remains the official name of Taiwan, and its government said there were no two agreements for World War II referring to the People’s Republic of Mao Zedong, because it did not exist at the time, so Beijing now has no right to claim Taiwan.
“China intentionally misunderstood the Second World War documents of World War II, including the Cairo Declaration, the Potsdam Declaration and the San Francisco Treaty, in an attempt to support its mandatory movement to conquer Taiwan,”
In fact, the U.S. Embassy added in a statement: “Beijing’s narrative is wrong, and none of these documents determines the ultimate political status of Taiwan.”
Japan signed the San Francisco Peace Treaty in 1951, relinquishing its claims to Taiwan, although the island’s sovereignty remains unresolved in the agreement. Beijing said the treaty was “illegal and invalid” if not the treaty.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry expressed “strong dissatisfaction” in its comments on Monday, saying they were misleading.
Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said in Beijing: “A series of documents with legal effect, such as the Cairo Declaration and the Japanese surrender document, clearly confirms China’s sovereignty over Taiwan and its status as Taiwan.”
When the United States recognized Beijing in 1979, the United States ended its official ties with Taipei, but remained the island’s most important international defender.
Washington followed a “one China policy” that formally had no position on Taiwan’s sovereignty, and only in China’s position on the subject could be realized.
Taiwan’s American Academy added: “False legal narratives are part of Beijing’s broader campaign to isolate Taiwan from the international community and limit other countries’ sovereign choices in interaction with Taiwan.”
Taiwan Foreign Minister Lin Chia-Lung expressed his gratitude to the US for its statement of mission. “Our country and the People’s Republic of China do not belong to each other, and the People’s Republic of China has no right to represent Taiwan in the international community,” Lin said in a statement.
On September 3, Chinese President Xi Jinping was responsible for conducting a large-scale military parade in Beijing to commemorate the war anniversary.
Published on September 16, 2025
