Experts stress Cairo Declaration terms shall be carried out

BEIJING - Marking the 70th anniversary of the Cairo Declaration, Chinese experts have stressed that terms of the document shall be observed and carried out.

Japan is obliged to make concrete efforts to implement the Cairo Declaration and its performance will also be a display of the country's credit and reputation in international society, said an article under the byline of international affairs expert Luo Yuan in the Sunday edition of People's Daily, flagship newspaper of the Communist Party of China.

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

The Potsdam Proclamation in 1945 reaffirmed that "the terms of the Cairo Declaration shall be carried out."

All through the past 70 years, the declaration acts as an important international document in handling Japan's aggression issue and ensuring peace and security in the Asia-Pacific region, Luo wrote.

The declaration showcased the common will and unity of the anti-fascist alliance to stop and punish the aggression as well as their efforts to prevent the resurgence of Japan's aggressive force and safeguard the achievements in the anti-fascist war, he said in the article.

Also, Luo said the document has been acting as a definitive cornerstone to maintain the post-war peace order in relevant regions and identify Japanese sovereignty.

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

The authority of the document and its binding force should be everlasting and its principles shall be defended and practiced, Liu said.

Zhou Yongsheng, a professor with China Foreign Affairs University, said the Japanese government's move to challenge China's sovereignty over the Diaoyu Islands is an open defiance to key post-war international documents and peace order.

Japan's provocative behaviors revealed that the country is attempting to restore its military power, said Wu Enyuan, an international expert and former director of the Institute of Russian, Eastern European and Central Asian Studies under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS).

Moreover, the U.S. is using the Diaoyu Islands issue as a strategic instrument to contain China and seek hegemony in Asia, Wu said.

These acts have brought about new security uncertainty to the Asia-Pacific region as well as the entire world, the scholar said.

The Japanese government accepted the Potsdam Proclamation in the Japanese Instrument of Surrender, and in the China-Japan joint statement issued in 1972, it also promised to "earnestly implement Article 8 of the Potsdam Proclamation."

"To defend its credit, the Japanese government is obliged to perform its promises to international society," Luo said.

The experts also called on people around the world to unite and urge relevant countries to stop undermining regional peace and stability.

"A responsible country should not forget the intention of the Cairo Declaration and should guard against the revival of Japanese militarism," said Yang Bojiang, another CASS scholar.

A forum was held in Beijing on Sunday to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Cairo Declaration.

The forum was jointly held by the All-China Federation of Taiwan Compatriots (ACFTC) and its Beijing branch as well as the Museum of the War of Chinese People's Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.

Liang Guoyang, vice chairman of ACFTC, said the history about Taiwan being occupied by the Japanese and its return to China's sovereignty affirmed the fact that the island is an indivisible part of China.

Liang said any attempt to advocate "Taiwan independence" and cast doubt on the binding force of the declaration will achieve nothing.

Li Li, a professor with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the Cairo Declaration is also legal evidence to identify the ownership of the Diaoyu Islands as the document explicitly stated that all the territories Japan had stolen from the Chinese shall be restored to the Chinese.