TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The US National Archives scrapped a temporary display of a brick from the Great Wall of China and a Qing (1644-1912) emperor’s scroll after China protested its planned display of the 1951 Treaty of San Francisco, NPR reported.
The display had been prepared for Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s visit to the US last week. Beijing was displeased at the treaty "because the US and Japan signed it, but not China," NPR quoted a Chinese diplomat as saying on Friday.
The Treaty of San Francisco does not determine who has sovereignty over Taiwan, and Taiwanese leaders often cite it to argue that the country should have the right to decide its own sovereignty. Beijing does not recognize the treaty and has privately demanded that other countries consider the document illegal, according to US diplomats, per NPR.
Ryan Hass, a Taiwan and China expert at the Brookings Institution, said, "It is a point of contention for the Chinese because they were not signatories to the Treaty of San Francisco, and they do not like the fact that the treaty of (San Francisco) leaves undetermined Taiwan's political status."
US officials also considered displaying other major documents that shape US-Taiwan ties, including the Six Assurances and the Three Communiques, according to NPR. However, they were ultimately left out.
China prefers to cite the Cairo Declaration and Potsdam Declaration, which state that territories taken from Japan should be returned to China under the “Republic of China.” Today, the Republic of China is the government based in Taiwan.
“The incident shows how sensitive Taiwan remains in the US-China relationship and how minute differences in historical interpretation continue to have foreign policy consequences,” NPR said.
