Cairo Conference

The meetings of world leaders held in Cairo, Egypt, in November and December 1943, during World War II. The first conference was held November 22-26, 1943, with President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Chinese President Chiang Kai-shek. They discussed their goal of winning unconditional Japanese surrender and the return of territories Japan had captured, as well as Korea's independence. Roosevelt and Churchill also talked about plans for the invasion of Normandy. During the second conference, held December 2-7, Roosevelt and Churchill attempted to win Turkish President Ismet Inönü over to the Allied cause.

See the Introduction, Abbreviations and Pronunciation for further details.

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On their way to the Teheran Conference, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill met with Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek at Cairo in November 1943 to discuss the war against Japan. During the meeting at Cairo, Roosevelt hoped to provide symbolic—rather than additional material—support to Chiang's embattled regime. In contrast, Chiang hoped to use the conference as a forum to persuade Roosevelt to devote more Allied resources to the fighting on the Asian mainland, particularly in China and Burma. The three conferees issued a declaration of intent: to take from Japan all of the Pacific islands occupied by it since 1914; to restore to China all territory seized by Japan, such as Manchuria, Formosa, and the Pescadores Islands; and to give Korea its independence "in due course." Despite the broad statement of war aims, however, the main focus of the Allied military effort against Japan remained the islands of the Central and South Pacific, rather than the expulsion of Japanese forces from China.

Returning from Teheran, Roosevelt and Churchill met in December with President Ismet Inönü of Turkey at the second Cairo Conference and unsuccessfully attempted to persuade him to declare war on the Axis powers.

Bibliography

Dallek, Robert. Franklin D. Roosevelt and American Foreign Policy, 1932–1945. New York: Oxford University Press, 1979.

Smith, Gaddis. American Diplomacy During the Second World War, 1941–1945. New York: Wiley, 1965.

—Charles S. Campbell/A. G.

Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Prime Minister Winston Churchill met at the Cairo Conference in Cairo, 11/25/1943.

The Cairo Conference (codenamed "SEXTANT") of November 22-November 26, 1943, held in Cairo, Egypt, addressed the Allied position against Japan during World War II and made decisions about postwar Asia. The meeting was attended by President Franklin Roosevelt of the United States, Prime Minister Winston Churchill of the United Kingdom, and Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek of the Republic of China.

The Cairo Declaration was signed on 27 November 1943 ^[1], and released in an Cairo Communiqué through radio on 1 December 1943 ^[2], stating the Allies' intentions to continue deploying military force until Japan's unconditional surrender. The three main clauses of the Cairo Declaration are that "Japan be stripped of all the islands in the Pacific which she has seized or occupied since the beginning of the First World War in 1914", "all the territories Japan has stolen from the Chinese, such as Manchuria, Formosa, and the Pescadores, shall be restored to the Republic of China", and that "in due course Korea shall become free and independent".

The legitimacy of the Cairo Declaration has been challenged by Taiwan independence supporters in recent years. Some supporters of Taiwan independence claim that it is merely a trivial press release, holding no legal meaning. On the other hand, supporters of Chinese reunification argue that the Cairo Declaration is a legitimate historical document, given the fact that it was cited by clause eight of the Potsdam Declaration and referred to by the Japanese Instrument of Surrender. The dispute centers upon whether the Japanese Instrument of Surrender transferred Taiwan's sovereignty to China, as opposed to being a provisional modus vivendi that has been supplanted. See Legal status of Taiwan for further information.

References

1. ^ "Text of Cairo Declaration in the Japanese National Diet Library", Japan National Diet Library, November 27, 1943. 
2. ^ "Cairo Communiqué received by the radio operators in USA", Japan National Diet Library, December 1, 1943. 

External links

• United States Department of State Foreign relations of the United States diplomatic papers, The Conferences at Cairo and Tehran, 1943

See also

• Imperialism in Asia
• Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945)
• Atlantic Charter (1941)
• Dumbarton Oaks Conference (1944)
• Potsdam Declaration (1945)
• Japanese Instrument of Surrender (1945)
• Treaty of San Francisco (1951)
• political status of Taiwan
• Treaty of Peace and Friendship between Japan and the People's Republic of China (1978)
• List of World War II conferences
• Alternative meanings: International Conference on Population and Development (1994), Cairo Anti-war Conference (2002, 2003, 2005)
• Cairo Anti-war Conference: For the contemporary Cairo Conference against U.S. hegemony and war on Iraq and in solidarity with Palestine

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