Liu Chieh (; 27 May 1907 – 12 February 1991) was a

diplomat A diplomat (from grc, δίπλωμα; romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state or an intergovernmental institution such as the United Nations or the European Union to conduct diplomacy with one or more other states or internati ...

of the Republic of China. He represented China at the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

from 1962 to 1971, and was the last

Permanent Representative A permanent representative is a diplomat who is the head of a country’s diplomatic mission to an international organisation. Organizations that receive permanent representatives from their member states include the United Nations, the World Tr ...

of the Republic of China at the UN. Liu studied at

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

and practiced as a barrister in China. He was an advisor to the Chinese delegation at the meetings that established the

League of Nations The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference that ...

. In 1931, Liu officially joined China's diplomatic corps; he served as first secretary in the Chinese Embassy in London and as minister plenipotentiary in Washington, D.C. He later became China's deputy foreign minister in 1945 and at various times served as ambassador to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

and the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. Liu was the Chinese delegate to the

Dumbarton Oaks Conference The Dumbarton Oaks Conference, or, more formally, the Washington Conversations on International Peace and Security Organization, was an international conference at which proposals for the establishment of a "general international organization", w ...

in 1944 and to the 1945 conference in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

that resulted in the founding of the United Nations. Later, the Chinese government appointed him as the government's representative on the

United Nations Trusteeship Council The United Nations Trusteeship Council (french: links=no, Conseil de tutelle des Nations unies) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations, established to help ensure that trust territories were administered in the best interests ...

. After the Communists seized power in 1949 and proclaimed the People's Republic of China, Liu joined the Republic of China's government on Taiwan. In 1962, Liu became the Permanent Representative of the Republic of China at the UN, where he served as the

President of the Security Council The presidency of the United Nations Security Council is responsible for leading the United Nations Security Council. It rotates among the 15 member-states of the council monthly. The head of the country's delegation is known as the President of t ...

numerous times. Liu was China's representative at the UN when the

General Assembly A general assembly or general meeting is a meeting of all the members of an organization or shareholders of a company. Specific examples of general assembly include: Churches * General Assembly (presbyterian church), the highest court of presby ...

voted in

Resolution 2758 The United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2758 (also known as the Resolution on Admitting Peking) was passed in response to the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 1668 that required any change in China's representation in the UN be ...

to transfer China's UN seat to the Communist People's Republic; Liu led a walk-out protest at the General Assembly just prior to the vote. On 10 March 1972, Liu was appointed as the Ambassador of the Republic of China to the Republic of the Philippines. He submitted to the National Book on 23 March 1972. He left on 6 June, 1975. Liu died of a

cerebral hemorrhage Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), also known as cerebral bleed, intraparenchymal bleed, and hemorrhagic stroke, or haemorrhagic stroke, is a sudden bleeding into the tissues of the brain, into its ventricles, or into both. It is one kind of bleed ...

at his home in San Francisco, where he had been living in retirement.

References

*Alfonso A. Narvaez
"Liu Chieh, Taiwan's Top Delegate At U.N. in 1960's, Is Dead at 85"
''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'', 1991-02-15 {{DEFAULTSORT:Liu Chieh Permanent Representatives of the Republic of China to the United Nations Ambassadors of China to the United States Ambassadors of the Republic of China to Canada Ambassadors of the Republic of China to the Philippines Alumni of the University of Oxford Senior Advisors to President Lee Teng-hui 1907 births 1991 deaths People from Zhongshan Taiwanese people from Guangdong Chinese expatriates in the United Kingdom