KMT pans DPP for disputing retrocession legitimacy

By Shih Hsiao-kuang and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporter, with staff writer





Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) leaders yesterday slammed the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) for disputing the legitimacy of Taiwan’s retrocession from Japan to the Republic of China (ROC).

The 1943 Cairo Declaration should be considered legally binding, former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) and former vice president Lien Chan (連戰) said at a rally held by the KMT in Taipei to mark the 72nd Retrocession Day.

The Cairo Declaration refers to the document Allied leaders produced in Cairo in 1943, which states their goals for the post-war order, including restoring Taiwan to the ROC after the end of World War II.

Former president Ma Ying-jeou, second left, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Wu Den-yih, third left, former vice president Lien Chan, center, former KMT chairman Wu Poh-hsiung, third right, and KMT Vice Chairman Hau Lung-bin, second right, attend a Retrocession Day ceremony in Taipei yesterday. Photo: George Tsong, Taipei Times

The Ministry of Education might have omitted the Cairo Declaration, the Potsdam Declaration and the Treaty of San Francisco from its curriculum guidelines, but those events are the basis in international law for Taiwan’s retrocession, Lien said.

The ministry’s purported intention to omit them from history is tantamount to self-deception, he added.

The government should show its vision and decisiveness, like the Chinese Communist Party did at its 19th National Congress that ended on Tuesday, he added.

President Tsai In-wen (蔡英文) has not explained her vision or policy to the public, Lien said, adding that the Tsai administration should recover “the key to cross-strait peace.”

“Past KMT governments’ contributions to cross-strait relations should be made clear to the public,” he said.

The ROC’s authority to levy taxes, conscript soldiers and hold popular elections in Taiwan is the result of the Cairo Declaration, which states that Japan stole Taiwan from China, Ma said.

Over the past decade, some have said that the Cairo Declaration is not a valid international treaty, but a treaty is not necessarily named as such, Ma said.

In addition, the Japanese government accepted the Potsdam Declaration when it surrendered to the Allies, Ma said.

Those who dispute the validity of the Cairo Declaration should be dismissed as amateurs, Ma said, naming former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) of the DPP and former minister of education Tu Cheng-sheng (杜正勝), an Academia Sinica historian.

More than 100,000 Taiwanese died fighting the Japanese invasion of Taiwan in 1895, which comprised about 3 percent of the nation’s population at the time, Ma said.

“To speak of the War of Resistance Against Japan today, one must start with Taiwan to do justice to the martyrs who died here,” Ma said.

KMT Chairman Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) called on the public to “imitate the spirit of the martyrs” in building cross-strait peace, stability and prosperity.

“Making the ROC in Taiwan a paradise on Earth is a mission worthy of the spirit of Retrocession Day,” he said.