U.S. pulls Treaty of San Francisco from Trump-Xi display after China objects

Treaty leaves Taiwan’s status undetermined; China was not a signatory

Inside the National Archives Museum’s main foyer on Friday morning, a long table had been set up in the center of the room, with a temporary display resting on the black tablecloth showcasing a brick from the Great Wall of China and an elaborate 19th-century scroll sent by a Qing emperor. The entire display was removed because of a “last minute” change in the event, according to a Chinese diplomat granted anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

The sudden change was precipitated by Chinese displeasure over one document the U.S. had planned to show: the Treaty of San Francisco of 1951, according to the diplomat and two other people familiar with the matter, also granted anonymity. Beijing was irate over the treaty “because the U.S. and Japan signed it, but not China,” according to one of the Chinese diplomats.

The treaty ended World War II hostilities between Japan and the Allied Powers, including the United States. Both Trump and Xi referenced last week how the two countries fought together on the same side during the conflict. But the treaty also leaves the status of Taiwan undetermined and does not state that the island belongs to Beijing.

“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 SF leaves undetermined Taiwan’s political status,” said Ryan Hass, a Taiwan and China expert at the Brookings Institution in Washington.

An administration official, speaking on anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the record, told NPR the group at the Archives viewed “important, historic documents that set the foundation for 250 years of American greatness.” “The visit offered an opportunity for both leaders to discuss the United States and China’s history and concluded a very productive state visit between the two leaders,” the official said. The Chinese embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment.

Other documents key to defining the U.S. relationship to Taiwan were also discussed for possible display, according to U.S. officials involved in the visit planning — namely the Six Assurances and the Three Communiques — but those documents were ultimately not included.

The incident shows how sensitive Taiwan remains in the U.S.-China relationship and how minute differences in historical interpretation continue to have foreign-policy consequences. The discussion about whether to include Taiwan-related documents, which would almost certainly anger Beijing, is also an indication of pushback from within the U.S. government against Trump’s warm reception of Xi and was sparked in part by concerns that Xi would try to change the U.S.’ official stance toward Taiwan.

Taiwan, a democratic island that China hopes to control one day, has its own government and military, but Beijing is opposed to the island declaring formal independence. The U.S. does not have formal relations with Taiwan, nor does it have any commitment to defend Taiwan should China ever attack the island. However, through a web of American legislation and diplomatic statements — including the Six Assurances and the Three Communiques — the U.S. remains the island’s main security guarantor.

Hass said the trip to the National Archives was intended to reciprocate Xi’s hospitality in Beijing, where Xi had taken Trump to the Temple of Heaven and given him a private tour of the gardens at Zhongnanhai, the central leadership compound. The symbolism of the two settings, Hass said, sends a signal of the parameters and limits within which Trump approaches China.

The Chinese embassy found out about the list of documents shown on Thursday, during Xi’s state visit to Washington, according to two Chinese diplomats. Ninety minutes before the two leaders arrived at the National Archives, Chinese diplomats said it was unclear whether the Treaty of San Francisco would be on display.

The treaty explicitly leaves Taiwan’s sovereign status as undetermined, and Taiwanese leaders often cite the treaty to argue that Taiwan should have the right to self-determination over its sovereignty. Beijing has intensified its criticism of the Treaty of San Francisco since late last year, which it does not recognize, and in private has requested other countries to consider the document illegal, according to U.S. diplomats, because neither the governments of China nor Taiwan signed it. On Taiwan, China instead prefers to reference the Cairo Declaration and Potsdam Declaration, in which U.S. leaders supported the cessation of Japanese territories and their “restoration” to Chinese sovereignty under the “Republic of China” — a name that now refers to the government which presides over Taiwan.

When Trump and Xi walked up red-carpeted stairs into the Archives in Washington, D.C., the building’s foyer had been cleared, and the two men browsed original copies of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. Xi praised the “founding spirit” of 250 years of U.S. history in the Archives. “Ours goes 250 years, which is great,” Trump said, “and we’re proud of it, but theirs goes 6,000 years.”