For Immediate Release
Washington DC – June 14, 2007
Contact: (202) 547-3686
National Archives Shatters Beijing’s And KMT’s Claims
In a letter to FAPA dated June 5, Michael Kurtz, the Assistant Archivist for Records Services at the United States National Archives confirmed that the 1943 Cairo Declaration is neither a treaty nor an executive agreement, but merely a “communiqué.” This marks the first time the United States government officially goes on record elaborating on the lack of legal binding power of the Cairo Declaration, and thus voids the basis of both the Chinese Nationalist KMT party’s and Beijing’s mythic “One China Principle” claims.
Mr. Kurtz writes: “The National Archives and Records Administration has not filed this declaration under treaties. […] As you state, the declaration was a “communiqué”, and it does not have treaty series (TS) or executive agreement series (EAS) number.”
Over the past half century, the Cairo Declaration has been used by both the Communist government and the KMT as one of the key historic documents to bolster their “One China” claims. The KMT has long cited the Cairo Declaration as the legal basis for ROC’s claim on Taiwan. Interestingly enough, the Chinese Communist government also cites the Cairo Declaration to augment its claim that Taiwan is part of China. Former Chinese leader Jiang Zemin, current Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing and Premiere Wen Jiabao have in various public occasions invoked the Cairo Declaration to establish that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China.
FAPA President CT Lee states: “The 1943 Cairo Declaration is a document that wrapped up a meeting between Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Chiang Kai-shek. It merely is a moment in time – a declaration of intention about the world’s affairs among the three leaders. Although important at the time, it does not have any legal binding power almost 65 years later enabling either the KMT or the PRC to derive territorial claims from. The letter from the Archives codifies this fact that is already familiar to international legal scholars and Taiwan’s DPP government. The 1951 San Francisco Peace Treaty officially brought World War II to an end and supersedes all previous agreements. It is time that the Chinese Nationalist Party and the Communist Chinese government cease this political game of rhetoric.”
美國國家檔案室打破北京與國民黨的一中迷思
美國國家檔案室在一封6月5日致FAPA的信函裡表示，1943年的開羅宣言不是國際條約，也不是美國與他國簽署的行政協定，充其量只是一份公報聲明。這可說是美國政府首次公開承認開羅宣言不具有任何法律效力，粉碎了北京政權與中國國民黨多年來引用開羅宣言為佐證的一中迷思。
國家檔案室的柯爾茲先生在信函裡解釋，根據國家檔案室的規定，所有的國際條約、行政協定、或是一般條約與其他協定等文件均有其專屬的特定號碼，由國務院一併交由檔案室保管。開羅宣言並不符合上述性質，因為它不是條約，也不是行政協定。「誠如您在信中所提到的，開羅宣言僅是一份公報聲明」，柯爾茲先生表示。
近半世紀以來，開羅宣言對於中國國民黨與中國共產黨的一中迷思，佔有極重要的歷史與法理地位。中國國民黨引用開羅宣言，證明日本將台灣歸還中華民國；有趣的是，在同時，中國共產黨也是引用開羅宣言來佐證台灣是中國的一部份。從過去的江澤民、到今日的中國外長李肇星、總理温家寶等，中國政府與學界均在不同的國內外公開場合一再引用開羅宣言來證明台灣是中國領土不可分割的一部份。
FAPA會長李青泰表示：「 開羅宣言最多僅是代表美、中、英三國領袖對於當時國際局勢的片面聲明，在當時也許有特別涵義，但是宣言本身並不具任何法律效力，更遑論可以用來佐證中國領土涵蓋台灣的法律根據，不管是中華民國或是中華人民共和國。美國檔案室今天公開證明這項一般國際法學者與民進黨政府早已確認的史實。」1951年的舊金山合約是歸結二次世界大戰的戰後合約，依照國際法原則，理應取代之前制訂的法律條文，何況是沒有法律效力的公報宣言。FAPA呼籲中國國民黨與中國共產黨不要再為了一己之私的政治目的，刻意誤導與扭曲史實。
