George Yeh | |
Native Name Lang: | zh-hant |
Office: | ROC Ambassador to the United States |
Term Start: | August 1958 |
Term End: | November 1961 |
Predecessor: | Hollington Tong |
Successor: | Tsiang Tingfu |
Office1: | Minister of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission |
Term Start1: | 19 May 1950 |
Term End1: | 16 April 1952 |
Predecessor1: | Dai Kuisheng |
Successor1: | Zheng Yanfen |
Office2: | Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of China |
Term Start2: | 1 October 1949 |
Term End2: | 14 July 1958 |
Predecessor2: | Hu Shih |
Successor2: | Huang Shao-ku |
Birth Date: | 20 October 1904 |
Birth Place: | Jiujiang (Kewkiang), Jiangxi, Great Qing |
Death Place: | Taipei, Taiwan |
Nationality: | Republic of China |
Party: | Kuomintang |
George Kung-chao Yeh (1904–1981), also known as Yeh Kung-chao, was a diplomat and politician of the Republic of China. Educated in the U.S. and the U.K., he graduated from Amherst College in 1925[1] and later Cambridge University. He taught English literature at Beijing's Tsinghua University, where his students included renowned 20th century Chinese writer Ch'ien Chung-shu.[2] He was the first Minister of Foreign Affairs since 1949.
On February 6, 1950, the ROC air force bombed Shanghai, causing extensive damage to American-owned property in the city including the Shanghai power company.[3] The American government responded by sending a diplomatic protest to the Nationalist Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Yeh defended the bombing to American diplomats and stated that the ROC would provide early warning before such attacks in the future. The United States rejected the proposed arrangement and the American chargé d'affaires warned Yeh that serious difficulties would arise if such things continued.
During his tenure, he signed the Sino-Japanese Peace Treaty in 1952 and the Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty in 1954. He was ambassador to the United States from 1958 to 1961. In 1961, due to the admission of Mongolia to the United Nations, Yeh was removed from the position of ambassador and recalled to Taiwan by Chiang Kai-shek. He then served as Minister without Portfolio.[4]