Remarks at the Reception for Participants
in the International Conference on
Taiwan's Sovereign Status
April 17, 2008

Subject: The Cairo Declaration is an Unofficial Press Release

In the past, governments on both sides of the Taiwan Strait pointed to the Cairo Declaration as their basis to claim that China has sovereignty over Taiwan. Such a claim does not accord with history, and it overlooks the people's efforts and sacrifices in Taiwan to realize self-determination and democracy over the past five decades. The Cairo Declaration, released on December 1, 1943, was neither dated nor signed by Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek of the Republic of China, President Franklin Roosevelt of the United States, or Prime Minister Winston Churchill of the United Kingdom, the three leaders who discussed its contents.

After their meeting in Cairo, these leaders did not affirm, nor invest with authority, the document or its contents. The declaration is not a joint communiqué, but merely an unofficial press release. On February 1, 1955, when undergoing interpellation before the UK Parliament, Prime Minister Churchill stressed that he could not accept the view that the Cairo Declaration could be used as a binding document to claim that China has sovereignty over Taiwan. This shows that there was no consensus among Chiang, Churchill, and Roosevelt at Cairo on the Taiwan issue.

Chen Shui-bian
President
Republic of China (Taiwan)