Cairo Conference

The Cairo Conference (codenamed "SEXTANT") of November 22 - 26 November 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, and released in an Cairo Communiqué through radio on 1 December 1943, 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".

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 On the other hand, supporters of Chinese reunification argue that the Cairo Declaration is a legitimate historical document, given the fact that it was cited by clause eight of the Potsdam Declaration and referred to by the Japanese Instrument of Surrender.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.

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