Wellington Koo
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Vi Kyuin "Wellington" Koo (traditional Chinese: 顧維鈞; simplified Chinese: 顾维钧; Pinyin: Gù Wéijūn; Wade-Giles: Ku Wei-chün) (January 29, 1887 – November 14, 1985) was a former President of the Republic of China, judge of the International Court of Justice and representative to the Paris Peace Conference of 1919.
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[edit] Early life
Born in Shanghai in 1887 and a fluent English speaker, Koo went to the United States in 1904 and studied Western culture in order to help China with the problem of imperialism. He soon came to be interested in China's position in international society.
Koo attended Saint John's University, Shanghai, and Columbia College, where he was a member of the Philolexian Society, a literary and debating club. In 1912 he received his PhD in international law and diplomacy from Columbia University.
His English nickname, Wellington, was chosen because of its phonetic similarity to Vi Kyuin, according to the memoirs of his third wife, the former Hui-lan Oei.
[edit] Career
After his graduation, Koo returned to China to serve the new Republic of China as the President's English Secretary. In 1915 Koo was made Chinese Minister to the United States.
In 1919 he was a member of the Chinese delegation to the Paris Peace Conference, led by Foreign Minister Lou Tseng-Tsiang. It is for this that he is best known. Before the Western powers and Japan, he demanded that Japan return Shandong to China. He also called for Western countries for an end to all imperialist institutions such as extraterritoriality, tariff controls, legation guards, and lease holds. The Western powers refused his claims and, consequently, the Chinese delegation at the Paris Peace Conference was the only nation that did not sign the Treaty of Versailles at the signing ceremony.
Koo also was involved in the formation of the League of Nations as China's first representative to the newly formed League. He was acting president of China from 1926-1927 during a period of chaos in Beijing. He later served as Foreign Minister under Chang Tso-lin, and represented China at the League of Nations to protest the Japanese invasion of Manchuria. He served as the Chinese Ambassador to France from 1936-1940, until France was occupied by Germany. Afterwards he was the Chinese Ambassador to the Court of St. James's until 1946. In 1945 Koo was one of the founding members of the United Nations. Afterwards he was the Chinese Ambassador to the United States trying to maintain the alliance between the Republic of China and the United States as the Kuomintang began losing to the Chinese Communists and had to retreat to Taiwan.
Article 2b of the post-war Japanese Treaty of San Francisco specified that "Japan renounces all right, title and claim to Formosa and the Pescadores," but no receiving country was specified owing to the Chinese Civil War. Declassified documents of the State Dept. from Jan. 16, 1951 remarking on Ambassador Koo's discussions on the treaty said that: "The Chinese Ambassador informed Mr. Dulles on December 19, [1950] that his Government was in general accord with the U.S. treaty views. He said that it accepted the security provisions contemplated and establishment of a U.S. trusteeship over the Ryukyu and Bonin Islands. The Chinese Government was prepared to make no reparations claims provided all other nations did the same. It was the Ambassador's understanding that even though the future disposition of Formosa was left unsettled Japan would renounce its title to Formosa in the treaty." This has led supporters of Taiwan independence to argue that Taiwan not transferred over to China, although both the PRC and ROC have argued that title over Taiwan was transferred by the Instrument of Surrender of Japan and that statement made afterwards were in reference to "which China" Taiwan was transferred to.
Koo retired from the Chinese diplomatic service in 1956. In 1956 he became a judge of the International Court of Justice at The Hague and served as Vice-President of the Court during the final three years of his term. In 1967 he retired and moved to New York City where he lived until his death in 1985.
[edit] Marriages
Wellington Koo was married four times.
- A first wife, name unknown, divorced.
- Pao-yu "May" Tang (circa 1895-1918),[1] who was the youngest daughter of the former Chinese prime minister Tang Shaoyi and a first cousin of the painter and actress Mai-Mai Sze.[1][2][3][2] Married circa 1914, the Koos had two children, a son, Teh-chang Koo (1916-1982),[4] and a daughter, Patricia Koo (b. 1918).
- Hui-lan [5] Oei (1899-1992),[6][7], whom Koo married in Brussels, Belgium, 1921.[3][8] Much admired for her adaptations of traditional Manchu fashion, which she wore with lace trousers and jade necklaces,[4], she was one of the 42 acknowledged children of the Peranakan Chinese sugar magnate Oei Tiong-ham[5] and wrote two memoirs: Hui-Lan Koo (Mrs. Wellington Koo): An Autobiography (written with Mary Van Rensselaer Thayer, Dial Press, 1945)[6][7] and No Feast Lasts Forever (written with Isabella Taves, Quadrangle/The New York Times, 1975).[9] By her, Koo had two sons, Yu-chang Koo (b. 1922, a.k.a. Wellington Koo Jr) and Fu-chang Koo (b. 1923, a.k.a. Freeman Koo).[8][10] The Koos were divorced circa 1955.
- Juliana Young, the widow of Huang-son "Clarence" Young, married circa 1955. By her he had three stepdaughters: Genevieve, Shirley, and Frances Loretta Young.
[edit] References
- ^ Joseph K.H. Cheng and Howard Lyon Boorman, "Biographical DIctionary of Republican China", page 236
- ^ "Chinese Minister to Mexico Chosen: V.K. Wellington Koo, Graduate of Columbia, Also Envoy to Peru and Cuba", The New York Times, 26 July 1915
- ^ Mary Van Rensselaer Thayer, "Mme. Koo Sees Our Future Linked With China's", The New York Times, 5 February 1939
- ^ Mary Van Renssaelaer Thayer, "Mme. Koo Sees Our Future Linked With China's", The New York Times, 5 February 1939
- ^ "Obituary: Mme. Oei Tong Ham, Mother in Law of Dr. Koo, Chinese Ambassador to U.S.", The New York Times, 1 February 1947
- ^ "Mrs. Koo Explains Withdrawal of Book", The New York Times, 27 April 1943
- ^ "Mrs. Wellington Koo's Life Story", The New York Times, 31 October 1945
- ^ "Koo's Son Made Citizen; Daughter-in-Law of Ex-Envoy of China Also Takes Oath", The New York Times, 15 August 1956
[edit] External links
[edit] Literature
- Craft, Stephen G. V.K. Wellington Koo and the Emergence of Modern China. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2003.
| Preceded by Sun Baoqi |
Premier of the Republic of China 1924 |
Succeeded by Yan Huiqing |
| Preceded by Du Xigui |
President of the Republic of China 1926–1927 |
Succeeded by Zhang Zuolin (Generalissimo of the Military Government) |
| Preceded by Du Xigui |
Premier of the Republic of China 1926–1927 |
Succeeded by Pan Fu |
| Preceded by Wei Daoming |
China's Ambassador to the United States 1946–1956 |
Succeeded by Chai Zeming |
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