The Site of the Cairo Conference

China, the United States, and the United Kingdom met in 1943 from November 22 to 26 in a wartime summit that is now generally referred to as the Cairo Conference. Among the 14 summits that the Allied Powers held during World War II, it was the only one called specifically to discuss strategy for fighting Japan in the China–Burma–India Theater. It was also the first time that a leader of the Republic of China had ever taken part in a conference as a peer on equal standing with the leaders of the US and the UK. The event is regarded as the diplomatic high point for the ROC during the war.

The war effort went poorly in 1942, but the situation began improving in 1943. In February, for example, the Soviet Union recaptured Stalingrad and put the German army on the defensive, while US troops in that same month expelled the Japanese from Guadalcanal. In May, US and British forces ran the Axis Powers out of North Africa. Then in September, Italy surrendered to the Allies. With the Allies scoring victory after victory in Europe and Asia, it started becoming apparent that defeat might well be in the offing for the Axis Powers.

America’s President Roosevelt, wanting to discuss strategy for the war against Japan and to make preparations for the establishment of a new postwar international order, set about making arrangements for a year-end summit among the leaders of China, the US, the UK, and the Soviet Union. However, Joseph Stalin, then the chairman of the Council of People’s Commissars, refused to meet with the leader of China on the grounds that the Soviet Union still had a neutrality pact with Japan. This made it necessary for the four powers to hold separate summits in Cairo and Tehran.

On the morning of November 18, 1943, the ROC’s Nationalist Government Chairman ­Chiang Kai-shek and Madame ­Chiang led a delegation that flew from Chong­qing via India to Cairo, where they arrived on the morning of November 21. The delegation stayed at the Mena House, a hotel located in the outskirts of Cairo very near the Great Pyramids of Giza. Britain’s Prime Minister Churchill also arrived that same morning, while President Roosevelt arrived on the morning of the following day, after which the summit got underway.

­Chiang, Roosevelt, and Churchill met three times during the five-day conference. On the morning of November 23 they discussed plans for an Allied offensive in Burma. They then met for photos at noon on the 25th, and finalized the wording of the Cairo Declaration on the afternoon of the 26th. Chiang also met one-on-one several times with both Roosevelt and Churchill. The talks between China and the UK focused primarily on strategy for the Burma offensive, while discussions between China and the US addressed the postwar international order, wartime military and economic issues, the occupation of Japan, abolition of Japan’s imperial system, the handling of territories occupied by Japan (including Manchuria, Taiwan, the ­Penghu Islands, Korea, Okinawa, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific islands), and postwar reparations.

On November 27, Roosevelt and Churchill proceeded to Tehran. In the meanwhile ­Chiang Kai-shek and Madame ­Chiang toured the pyramids before departing that same evening for China. The three powers each issued the Cairo Declaration on December 1.

The ROC’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Academia Historica felt the 70th anniversary of the Cairo Conference was an opportune time to assemble audio and video records, news media reports, and other historical source materials to help the public better understand this important episode in history.

September 2, 1945: Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, General Douglas MacArthur, represents the Allied Powers in signing the Japanese Instrument of Surrender aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay.

Chiang Kai-shek and Madame Chiang are shown here touring a mosque while in Egypt for the Cairo Conference. Their guide is Robert Hyde Greg, a British official stationed in Cairo.

This Cairo Declaration news release, and the Chinese translation of the Cairo Conference Communiqué (from the archives of President Chiang Kai-shek at the Academia Historica), are among the important historical documents connected with the Cairo Conference. The translation was drafted by Wang Chung-hui, edited by Chen Pu-lei, and approved by Chiang Kai-shek.

September 2, 1945: At the surrender ceremony in Tokyo Bay, Hsu Yung-chang signs the Japanese Instrument of Surrender on ­behalf of the Republic of China.

November, 1943: The leaders of China, the US and the UK meet at the Cairo Conference. Included in this group photo are ROC Nationalist Government chairman Chiang Kai-shek, US president Franklin Roosevelt, British prime minister Winston Churchill, Mme. Chiang, and diplomatic officials from the three powers. The Chinese official (wearing glasses) behind Roosevelt is Wang Chung-hui, one of the drafters of the Cairo Declaration and secretary general of the Nationalist Government’s Supreme National Defense Council.

October 25, 1945: Following the surrender ceremony at the Taipei Assembly Hall (today called Zhongshan Hall), the master of ceremonies, Chen Yi, leads officials from the Taiwan Garrison General Headquarters in posing for a group photo.

This Cairo Declaration news release, and the Chinese translation of the Cairo Conference Communiqué (from the archives of President Chiang Kai-shek at the Academia Historica), are among the important historical documents connected with the Cairo Conference. The translation was drafted by Wang Chung-hui, edited by Chen Pu-lei, and approved by Chiang Kai-shek.

February 18, 1943: Madame Chiang Kai-shek delivers a speech before the US Congress, calling on the US to support China’s war effort.

This Cairo Declaration news release, and the Chinese translation of the Cairo Conference Communiqué (from the archives of President Chiang Kai-shek at the Academia Historica), are among the important historical documents connected with the Cairo Conference. The translation was drafted by Wang Chung-hui, edited by Chen Pu-lei, and approved by Chiang Kai-shek.

April 28, 1952: ROC Minister of Foreign Affairs George K.C. Yeh (seated left) and Japanese representative Isao Kawada (seated right) sign the Treaty of Peace between the Republic of China and Japan.