US says China spreads ‘false’ World War II narratives to pressure Taiwan

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The 80th anniversary of the war’s end has been marked by a bitter dispute between Taipei and Beijing on its broader historical meaning and relevance today.

PHOTO: REUTERS

TAIPEI - China is intentionally mischaracterising World War II-era documents to put pressure on and isolate Taiwan given those agreements made no determination of the islands ultimate political status, the de facto US embassy in Taipei said.

The 80th anniversary of the war’s end has been marked by a bitter dispute between Taipei and Beijing on its broader historical meaning and relevance today.

The Beijing government says documents like the Cairo Declaration and Potsdam Proclamation support its legal claims of sovereignty over the island, as the wording states Taiwan was to be “restored” to Chinese rule, Taiwan being a Japanese colony at the time.

The Chinese government at the time was the Republic of China, which then in 1949 fled to Taiwan after losing a subsequent civil war with Mao Zedong’s communists.

Republic of China remains Taiwan’s formal name, and its government says no World War II agreements made any mention of Mao’s Peoples Republic of China because it did not exist then, thus Beijing has no right to claim Taiwan now.

“China intentionally mischaracterises World War II-era documents, including the Cairo Declaration, the Potsdam Proclamation, and the Treaty of San Francisco, to try to support its coercive campaign to subjugate Taiwan,” the American Institute in Taiwan said in an statement emailed to Reuters on Sept 15.

“Beijing’s narratives are simply false, and none of these documents determined Taiwans ultimate political