V. K. Wellington Koo, Longtime Diplomat of Republic of China

V. K. Wellington Koo, a former prime minister of the Republic of China, ambassador to three Western nations including the United States and the first diplomat to sign the United Nations Charter, has died at age 97.

Koo died Thursday night at his New York City home, said Frances Friedman, a spokeswoman for the family.

He was born in Shanghai, China, in 1888, the third son of a prosperous merchant. Koo graduated from Columbia University in 1909 and later received master’s and doctoral degrees in international law from the same school.

In 1912, he became English secretary to Yuan Shih Kai, the first president of the Republic of China.

Koo served as prime minister and minister of foreign affairs for the Republic of China from 1926 to 1927.

In 1936, he was named ambassador to France, a post he held until 1941. From then until 1946, he was ambassador to the United Kingdom, and for 10 years after that he was ambassador to the United States.

Koo moved to the United States when he was named ambassador and never returned to China, Friedman said.

He was acting chairman of Chiang Kai-shek’s delegation at the 1945 San Francisco conference that drafted the United Nations Charter. His signature appears first on the document because China was the allied country that had been at war the longest.

In 1944, he was chairman of the Chinese delegation at the Dumbarton Oaks conference that preceded the formation of the United Nations.

Koo later served as judge and vice president of the International Court of Justice at The Hague, Netherlands, from 1957 to 1967. He represented China at the Paris peace talks after World War I and at the League of Nations.