Issued on December 1, the Cairo Declaration stated “the Three Great Allies were fighting this to restrain and punish the aggression of Japan” and that Japan was to abandon all the islands she had seized or occupied in the Pacific since the beginning of the Second World War. Furthermore, the declaration stated that “all the territories Japan has stolen from the Chinese, such as Manchuria, Formosa (Taiwan), and the Pescadors… by violence and greed” should be given back. The three powers also decided “that in due course Korea shall become free and independent (Gilbert, 2004:278).