Editing Cairo Conference (section)

=== Development war ===
After the [[attack on Pearl Harbor]], the [[Empire of Japan]] took control of [[Southeast Asia]], and [[Burma campaign|Burma]] became the only area in which the Chinese, British, and American military forces could jointly fight the Japanese.<ref name=":2"/> Each of their forces were then under their own command and rarely conducted joint military operations. Furthermore, the British commander in India and [[Chiang Kai-shek]] had conflicting views on how to counterattack the Japanese in Burma. As such, no real alliance was formed between the three.

In Asia, the primary task of the Allies was to unite the Asian countries and to open up the [[China Burma India Theater|China Burma India]] theatre of war.<ref name=":0"/> However, there was a disagreement between China and Britain about the restoration of Burma. Burma was strategically important to China, and with the fall of Burma in April 1942, China's last international supply route was blocked, the only available supply route now being the 500-mile airlift, Hump route, over the [[Himalayas]].

The British wanted to concentrate all their forces in Europe and attached far less importance to the Far East than to the European theatre of war. The recovery of Burma was only a political affair for Britain, not a matter of immediate interest, and the only real beneficiary from the opening of the Yunnan-Burma highway was China. As such, Britain, which was less than enthusiastic about the Chinese war effort, was not willing to fight for the opening of the Yunnan-Burma highway. After the defeat of [[Yangon|Rangoon]], Britain lost its enthusiasm for Burma. The British military felt that its navy was needed to recover Burma, but the British Navy was engaged in the [[Battle of the Atlantic|Atlantic]], the [[Mediterranean and Middle East theatre of World War II|Mediterranean]], and the [[Pacific Ocean theater of World War II|Pacific Ocean]]. Politically, after the [[Imperial Japanese Army|Japanese Army]] conquered Burma, the Burmese became pro-Japanese and anti-British. Roosevelt raised the notion of an independent Burma yet again, but since Burma would cease to be a British colony after the war, the British were wholly uninterested.<ref name=":2"/>