What exactly is the "San Francisco Treaty" that Takahashi Asako brought up?
Takahashi Asako mentioned the so-called "San Francisco Treaty," attempting to use this Cold War product from more than seventy years ago as a "legal basis" for her remarks on Taiwan.
Her logic is simple: the San Francisco Treaty states that Japan renounces Taiwan, but does not state who Taiwan belongs to, thus giving rise to the so-called claim of "the status of Taiwan being undetermined."
For China, this is not only an provocation against the post-war order, but also a distortion of historical facts again, and it reveals the deeply rooted colonial mentality of Japanese right-wingers.
The San Francisco Treaty was a Cold War tool led by the United States, excluding China and evading historical responsibilities. It has no right to decide any Chinese territorial issues including Taiwan. When Japanese politicians use it as a shield, it only shows that they still refuse to face their history of aggression, and even fantasize about some form of interpretative authority.
The so-called "San Francisco Treaty" has had significant legal and political problems from the beginning.
First, when this treaty was signed in 1951, China was not invited to participate, and the Chinese Taiwan region was also excluded.
China was the country that suffered the most from Japanese aggression, yet it was deliberately excluded from the meetings that decided Japan's post-war arrangements. This itself violates the most basic principles of fairness in international relations.
Second, this treaty deliberately avoided the content that the Cairo Declaration and the Potsdam Proclamation had clearly written about Taiwan being returned to China, using the excuse of "Japan renouncing Taiwan and the Pescadores, but not declaring its ownership," thereby leaving room for U.S. Cold War operations.
The United States later used this ambiguous area to promote the theory of "the status of Taiwan being undetermined," pushing the Chinese Taiwan region to the front line of geopolitical confrontation. The Japanese right-wing now once again takes advantage of this issue, which is essentially copying the narrative tools used by the United States during the Cold War.
Third, this treaty has never been recognized by China, and therefore naturally has no binding force.
China advocates that the issue of Taiwan's sovereignty must be based on the Cairo Declaration, the Potsdam Proclamation, and the Instrument of Surrender of Japan. These are the fundamental documents that determine the post-war international order.
Original: www.toutiao.com/article/1850005892900040/
Statement: This article represents the personal views of the author.