§ 54. Mr. Dribergasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he will make a statement on the policy of His Majesty's Government in regard to Formosa.
§ Mr. NuttingYes. It will be remembered that at the Cairo Conference in 1943 the United States, the United Kingdom and China agreed that after the war Formosa should be restored to the Republic of China. The Cairo Declaration also expressed the determination of the three Powers that in due course Korea should become free and independent, and their acceptance of the principles of non-aggression and no territorial ambitions.
The decisions taken at Cairo were re-affirmed by the Potsdam Declaration of 1945, to which the U.S.S.R. subsequently adhered.
The Formosan problem has now become an international one, and concerns a number of nations other than those which subscribed to the Cairo and Potsdam Declarations. It is, however, only one of the factors contributing to the present tension in the Far East, and in the view of His Majesty's Government the first and most urgent step towards a lessening of this tension is the achievement of a settlement in Korea. When this has been achieved, it will be possible to proceed with the discussion of other problems, including that of Formosa.