Koo Chen-fu

In thisChinese name,thefamily nameisKoo.

Koo Chen-fu
Cô chấn phủ
Koo Chen-fu in 1969
Chairman of theStraits Exchange Foundation
In office 21 November 1990 – 3 January 2005
Deputy	Johnnason Liu
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Johnnason Liu(acting) Chang Chun-hsiung
Personal details
Born	(1917-01-06)6 January 1917 Taihoku Chō,Japanese Taiwan
Died	3 January 2005(2005-01-03)(aged 87) Taipei,Taiwan
Citizenship	Republic of China
Children	Chester Koo,Leslie Koo
Alma mater	Taihoku Imperial University
Occupation	Businessman, diplomat, film producer

Koo Chen-fu(Chinese:Cô chấn phủ;pinyin:Gū Zhènfǔ;Wade–Giles:Ku Chen-fu;Pe̍h-ōe-jī:Ko͘ Chín-hú,6 January 1917 – 3 January 2005), also known asC.F. Koo,was a Taiwanese businessman, diplomat, and film producer. He led theKoos Groupof companies from 1940 until his death. As a chairman of theStraits Exchange Foundation(SEF), Koo arranged the first direct talks between Taiwan and mainland China since 1949 and served as Taiwan's negotiator in both the 1993 and 1998Wang-Koo summit.

He was also a film producer and produced a number of Taiwanese films between 1973 and 1982, such asLove, Love, Love(1974),Eight Hundred Heroes(1975),Heroes of the Eastern Skies(1977),The Coldest Winter in Peking(1981), andAttack Force Z(1982).

Early life

Born in northern Taiwan into a wealthy business family headed by his fatherKoo Hsien-jung,Koo attendedTaihoku Imperial University(now National Taiwan University). He inherited a substantial fortune and a business upon his father's death in 1937. Koo graduated in 1940 and pursued a graduate degree in Japan.

Koo was jailed in 1946 for 19 months on treason charges for helping the Imperial Japanese.After his release, he took refuge in Hong Kong and only returned to Taiwan in 1949 to marry his wife,Cecilia Koo.He focused on runningKoos Groupas well as on his political career that led to his elevation to the central committee ofKuomintang.

SEF Chairmanship

Koo was the founding chairman of theStraits Exchange Foundation(SEF).On 16 December 1991, a little over ten months after the establishment of the SEF, the authorities ofPeople's Republic of China(PRC) set up theAssociation for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits(ARATS), withWang Daohanas its chairman. The following year Koo and Wang held preliminary talks inHong Kongthat resulted in the so-called "1992 Consensus"and facilitated negotiations of practical matters. However, the content and the existence of this" 1992 consensus "is widely disputed. In 2001, Koo publicly affirmed that the meeting did not result in a consensus on the issue of" one-China ". In April 1993, Koo and Wang met in Singapore to hold the first formal discussions between Taipei and Beijing since 1949. The two met again in Shanghai in 1998. On 18 October 1998, Koo metJiang Zemin,General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party,in Beijing, in what was then the highest-level talks yet held between the two sides. The talks were called off by Beijing in 1999 after ROC PresidentLee Teng-huiproposed histwo-states theory.

Death

Koo Chen-fu died of renal cancer on the morning of 3 January 2005 at the age of 87.

External links

• Koo Chen-fuatIMDb