LEAD: Taiwan's chief negotiator with China Koo Chen-fu dies at 87

Asian Economic News, Jan 10, 2005

TAIPEI, Jan. 3 Kyodo

(EDS: ADDS DETAIL)

Business tycoon Koo Chen-fu, Taiwan's top negotiator with China, died of cancer in Taipei on Monday at the age of 87.

Koo, sent to the hospital last October due to his ailing health, passed away peacefully at 4:05 a.m., his doctor said at a press conference.

Koo was born into a wealthy merchant family in January 1917 in central Chuanghua during Japanese rule.

He graduated from Taipei Imperial University, now called National Taiwan University, with a political science degree and was sent to the prestigious Tokyo Imperial University, now known as the University of Tokyo, for further studies in finance.

Even though he was one of the most influential political figures in Taiwan, Koo never held public office, but was relied heavily upon by the Nationalist government in cross-strait affairs.

Since 1990, Koo has served as chairman of the quasi-official Straits Exchange Foundation that spearheaded the delicate task of direct and informal talks with China.

In 1993, Koo and his Chinese counterpart Wang Daohan, head of the Beijing-based nongovernmental Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait, shelved politically controversial issues and held a groundbreaking meeting in Singapore, in an unprecedented breakthrough in cross-strait relations.

The Singapore meeting led to several rounds of negotiations, including the Shanghai meeting in October 1998.

However, the bilateral dialogue stalled after mid-1999, when former President Lee Teng-hui defined the cross-strait ties as a ''special state-to-state'' relationship.

China considers Taiwan an inseparable part of its territory that should be reunited, by force if necessary.