Japan must abide by Cairo Declaration

Marking the 70th anniversary of the Cairo Declaration, Chinese experts urged Japan to abide by the terms of the document.

China, the United States and Britain issued the Cairo Declaration on Dec 1, 1943, which explicitly stated that all territories Japan had stolen from China shall be restored to China, and that Japan will be expelled from all other territories it had taken by violence and greed.

"The declaration confirmed China's sovereign rights over the territories stolen by Japan, which covered the Diaoyu Islands," said Liu Jiangyong, deputy dean of the Institute of Modern International Relations at Tsinghua University.

Liu added that during the past 70 years, the declaration, acting as an important international document, laid the foundations for international order and international law after World War II.

The Japanese government accepted the Potsdam Proclamation in the Japanese Instrument of Surrender in 1945 and promised to implement it.

"The Potsdam Proclamation not only clearly regulates Japanese post-war territory and that Japan must punish criminals, but also regulates that Japanese fascist militarism must be expelled from the world and Japan's military imperialist fascism must be destroyed," Liu said.

Article 8 of the Potsdam Proclamation says that Japan must carry out the terms of the Cairo Declaration, so it means Japan accepted the Cairo Declaration, Liu stressed.

Moreover, the Japanese government also promised to "earnestly implement Article 8 of the Potsdam Proclamation" in the China-Japan Joint Statement issued in 1972, and Japan also promised that it will implement the terms of that statement, in the China-Japan Peace and Friendship Treaty issued in 1978.

The Potsdam Proclamation and Cairo Declaration, which Japan accepted, and the China-Japan Joint Statement, China-Japan Peace and Friendship Treaty, which Japan jointly signed with China, formed the complete and basic principles of international law that Japan must abide by, Liu said.