Nelson Ku (; 6 June 1931 – 15 January 2007) was a Taiwanese politician, diplomat and naval officer. He served in the

Republic of China Navy The Republic of China Navy (ROCN, Chinese, 中華民國海軍) , colloquially known as the Taiwanese Navy ( Chinese, 台湾海军) by Western or mainland Chinese media, or commonly referred as the National Military Navy ( Chinese, 國軍海軍) ...

from 1954 to 1997, retiring with the rank of admiral. He was a member of the

Legislative Yuan The Legislative Yuan () is the unicameral legislature of the Republic of China (Taiwan) located in Taipei. The Legislative Yuan is composed of 113 members, who are directly elected for four-year terms by people of the Taiwan Area through a ...

from 2002 until his death.

Military career

Born Shanghai in 1931, Ku attended both the

Republic of China Naval Academy The Republic of China Naval Academy (CNA; ) is the service academy for the navy of the Republic of China (Taiwan), and is located next to the Zuoying Naval Base (海軍左營基地), Kaohsiung, Taiwan. History The academy was originally establ ...

and the

United States Naval Academy The United States Naval Academy (USNA, Navy, or Annapolis) is a United States Service academies, federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as United States Secre ...

, and entered the

in 1954. He became close to

Chen Shui-bian Chen Shui-bian ( zh, t=陳水扁; born 12 October 1950) is a Taiwanese former politician and lawyer who served as the fifth president of the Republic of China (Taiwan) from 2000 to 2008. Chen was the first president from the Democratic Progres ...

while serving as deputy defense minister between 1993 and 1994. As commander of the navy, a post he had assumed in 1994, Ku ended the Advanced Combat System, a program devised in the 1980s by Taiwan to develop a smaller version of the American-made Aegis Combat System. During his tenure, Ku reached an agreement with the United States Navy that allowed the Republic of China Navy use of American rescue vessels, if needed.

Political career

Ku became the Republic of China's representative to the Netherlands in 1997. Chen Shui-bian assumed the presidency in 2000, and due to the friendship between Chen and Ku, it was speculated that Ku would accept an appointment as minister of defense in the Chen administration, a post that went to Wu Shih-wen. After three years as a diplomat, Ku was recalled and expected to retire. However, Ku was named to the People First Party proportional representation ballot in 2001. For accepting the nomination, he was expelled from the

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 ...

. He was strongly opposed to a 2002 proposal to acquire

Kidd-class destroyer The ''Kidd''-class destroyers were a series of four guided-missile destroyers (DDGs) based on the . In contrast to their predecessor's focus on anti-submarine warfare, the ''Kidd''s were designed as more advanced multipurpose ships with the add ...

s from the United States, favoring the purchase of Aegis-enabled vessels instead. Ku was critical of a separate plan to buy Standard SM-II missiles for over NT$40 million each. In 2003, Ku published a book about his naval career and joined the Friends of the PFP. The next year, two members of the United States House of Representatives proposed that Taiwan send the

Republic of China Marine Corps , image = File:Republic of China Marine Corp (ROCMC) Logo.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Emblem of the Republic of China Marine Corps with the map of ROC claimed lands of m ...

to engage in the

Iraq War The Iraq War (), also referred to as the Second Gulf War, was a prolonged conflict in Iraq lasting from 2003 to 2011. It began with 2003 invasion of Iraq, the invasion by a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition, which ...

, a move Ku believed to be unnecessary. He was involved in another discussion about the cost of arms procurement in October, over a set of special appropriations that cost NT$610.8 billion. Ku was again named a PFP at-large legislative candidate for the 2004 elections, and won. In 2005, he voted against an arms procurement bill that sought to fund a $480 billion purchase of eight diesel submarines along with missile batteries and military aircraft, berating the government for its dependence on the United States. Ku was hospitalized in November 2006, and died of lymphatic cancer at

Tri-Service General Hospital The Tri-Service General Hospital (TSGH; ) is a medical center in Neihu District, Taipei, Taiwan. It is the teaching hospital of the National Defense Medical Center National Defense Medical Center (NDMC; ) is a ROC military affiliated medica ...

on 15 January 2007, aged 75.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ku, Nelson 1931 births 2007 deaths Republic of China Navy admirals Taiwanese people from Shanghai Republic of China politicians from Shanghai Deaths from lymphoma Deaths from cancer in Taiwan Members of the 5th Legislative Yuan Members of the 6th Legislative Yuan People First Party Members of the Legislative Yuan Party List Members of the Legislative Yuan Expelled members of the Kuomintang Representatives of Taiwan to the Netherlands United States Naval Academy alumni Ministers of national defense of Taiwan