Koo Chen-fu (, 6 January 1917 – 3 January 2005), also known as C.F. Koo, was a Taiwanese businessman, diplomat, and film producer. He led the

Koos Group The Koos Group (), founded by the Jeffrey Koo Sr. and Koo Chen-fu, the Koo Family, is a Taiwan-based pan-Asian business group involved in a vast range of industries, which include banking, manufacturing, petrochemicals, electronics, leasing, cem ...

of companies from 1940 until his death. As a chairman of the

Straits Exchange Foundation The Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF; ; often abbreviated as 海基會) is a semiofficial organization set up by the Government of the Republic of China (Taiwan) to handle civil and business matters with the People's Republic of China (PRC). Th ...

(SEF), Koo arranged the first direct talks between Taiwan and the People’s Republic of China since 1949 and served as Taiwan's negotiator in both the 1993 and 1998 Wang-Koo summit. He was also a film producer and produced a number of Taiwanese films between 1973 and 1982, such as '' Love, Love, Love'' (1974), '' Eight Hundred Heroes'' (1975), '' Heroes of the Eastern Skies'' (1977), '' The Coldest Winter in Peking'' (1981), and '' Attack Force Z'' (1982).

Early life and education

Born in northern Taiwan into a wealthy business family headed by his father Koo Hsien-jung. Koo attended Taihoku Imperial University (now

National Taiwan University National Taiwan University (NTU; zh, t=國立臺灣大學, poj=Kok-li̍p Tâi-oân Tāi-ha̍k, p=, s=) is a National university, national Public university, public research university in Taipei, Taiwan. Founded in 1928 during Taiwan under J ...

). He inherited a substantial fortune upon his father’s death in 1937. Koo graduated in 1940 and pursued a graduate degree in Japan at

Tokyo Imperial University The University of Tokyo (, abbreviated as in Japanese and UTokyo in English) is a public university, public research university in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in 1877 as the nation's first modern university by the merger of several Edo peri ...

. Koo was jailed in 1946 for 19 months on treason charges for helping the

Empire of Japan The Empire of Japan, also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was the Japanese nation state that existed from the Meiji Restoration on January 3, 1868, until the Constitution of Japan took effect on May 3, 1947. From Japan–Kor ...

. After his release, he took refuge in

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

and returned to Taiwan in 1949 to marry his wife, Cecilia Koo. Koo, alongside his nephew Jeffrey Koo Sr., founded the

during the 20th century. He remained focused on running

as well as on his political career that led to his elevation to the central committee of

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT) is a major political party in the Republic of China (Taiwan). It was the one party state, sole ruling party of the country Republic of China (1912-1949), during its rule from 1927 to 1949 in Mainland China until Retreat ...

Political career

Koo was a member of the

(KMT) but had complex political connections. His half-brother,

Koo Kwang-ming Koo Kwang-ming (; 15 October 1926 – 27 February 2023) was a Taiwanese statesman, businessman, and Taiwanese independence, independence activist. Personal life Koo was the eighth son of Koo Hsien-jung, a prominent Lukang businessman who had r ...

, was a leading figure in the

Taiwan independence movement The Taiwan independence movement is a political movement which advocates the formal declaration of an independent and sovereign Taiwanese state, as opposed to Chinese unification or the status quo in Cross-Strait relations. Into the 21st- ...

. Despite this, Koo maintained a strong relationship with the ROC government and served as Presidential Advisor from 1991 until his death in 2005.

SEF chairmanship

Koo was the founding chairman of the

(SEF). On 16 December 1991, a little over ten months after the establishment of the SEF, the authorities of

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

(PRC) set up the

Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits The Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS; ; often abbreviated as ) is a United front (China), united front organization set up by the Taiwan Affairs Office of the People's Republic of China for handling technical and bus ...

(ARATS), with Wang Daohan as its chairman. The following year Koo and Wang held preliminary talks in

that resulted in the so-called "

1992 Consensus The 1992 Consensus is a political term referring to the alleged outcome of a meeting in 1992 between the semi-official representatives of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-led People's Republic of China (PRC) in mainland China and the Kuomintang ...

" 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 met

Jiang Zemin Jiang Zemin (17 August 1926 – 30 November 2022) was a Chinese politician who served as General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 1989 to 2002, as Chairman of the Central Mil ...

General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party The general secretary of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party ( zh, s=中国共产党中央委员会总书记, p=Zhōngguó Gòngchǎndǎng Zhōngyāng Wěiyuánhuì Zǒngshūjì) is the leader of the Chinese Communist Part ...

, 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 President

Lee Teng-hui Lee Teng-hui (; pinyin: ''Lǐ Dēnghuī''; 15 January 192330 July 2020) was a Taiwanese politician and agricultural scientist who served as the fourth president of the Republic of China, president of the Taiwan, Republic of China (Taiwan) unde ...

proposed his two-states theory.

Death

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

Legacy

The Koo family remains one of Taiwan’s most influential business dynasties. In recognition of his contributions, the National Taiwan University Social Sciences Library was renamed the Koo Chen-Fu Memorial Library.

References

External links

Straits Exchange Foundation
(official website)
Koo one of the nation's most important figures
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Koo, Chen-fu 1917 births 2005 deaths Businesspeople from Taipei Deaths from kidney cancer in Taiwan Hokkien businesspeople Koo family (Lukang) Kuomintang politicians in Taiwan National Taiwan University alumni Politicians of the Republic of China on Taiwan from Taipei Prisoners and detainees of Taiwan Senior advisors to President Chen Shui-bian Senior advisors to President Lee Teng-hui Taiwanese film producers Taiwanese people of Hoklo descent Taiwanese prisoners and detainees University of Tokyo alumni