Wellington Koo

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Vi Kyuin Wellington Koo (Chinese: 顾维钧；Pinyin: Gù Wéijūn; Wade-Giles: Ku Wei-chün) (January 29, 1887 - November 14, 1985) was a Chinese diplomat and a representative to the Paris Peace Conference of 1919.

Born in Shanghai, China, in 1904 he went to the United States and studied Western culture in order to help China with the problem of imperialism. He spoke perfect fluent English, and 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 Koo received his PhD in international law and diplomacy from Columbia University. Immediately, he 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 one of the Chinese delegates to the Paris Peace Conference for which he is most well known. Before the Western powers and Japan, he demanded that Japan return Shandong to China. He also began harassing 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 League of Nations. He was acting president of China from 1926-1927 during a period of chaos in Beijing. He later served as Foreign Minister under Zhang Zuolin, 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 United Kingdom until 1946. In 1945 Koo was one of the founding members of the United Nations. Afterwards he was the 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.

Koo retired from the Chinese diplomatic service in 1956 after 44 years and two world wars. He was China's most experienced and respected diplomat. In 1956 Koo 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 spent the rest of his life with family and friends until his death in 1985 at the age of 98.

Preceded by Du Xigui	President of the Republic of China 1926–1927	Succeeded by Zhang Zuolin (Generalissimo of the Military Government)
Preceded by Wei Daoming	China's Ambassador to the United States 1946–1956	Succeeded by Chai Zeming