Koo Chen-fu, Taiwan's top negotiator with China and a prominent business tycoon, died of cancer on Monday, prompting Beijing to offer its condolences and hark back to an era of less strained cross Strait ties. Koo was 87. Analysts said Koo's death made fresh talks unlikely in an area viewed as a real threat to regional security. As chairman of the semi-official Straits Exchange Foundation, Koo held the highest-level contact between Taiwan and China since their civil war split in 1949. He met his counterpart, Wang Daohan, in Singapore in 1993.
It was also thanks to Koo that Beijing and Taipei agreed to their own interpretations of the "one China" principle in what is known as the 1992 consensus, a move that spawned talks between the two rivals.
Beijing sees self-governing Taiwan as a breakaway province and has threatened to attack the island if it formally declares independence.
China's semi-official Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait, which handles relations between Taipei and Beijing in the absence of official ties, said Koo had won the respect of Chinese people around the world.
Koo came from one of Taiwan's richest families and founded a sprawling conglomerate with businesses ranging from cement and banking to media and telecommunications.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.