James Shen, 98, Taipei's Last U.S. Ambassador

James Shen, the last Taiwanese ambassador to the United States before Washington switched diplomatic recognition to China in 1979, has died, relatives said yesterday. He was 98.

Shen died after a lengthy illness at his home in Taipei on Thursday, they said.

Born in Shanghai, Shen earned a journalism degree at the University of Missouri before serving as an English interpreter for Chiang Kai-shek, the former Nationalist leader who moved his government from China to Taipei after losing a civil war to Mao Zedong's communist forces in 1949.

Shen was appointed U.S. ambassador in 1971, months before former U.S. President Richard Nixon visited Beijing and signed a communique to acknowledge the so-called "one-China policy" that considers Taiwan a part of China. The move dealt a huge blow to Chiang's Nationalists who maintained they were the legitimate rulers of all of China.

Despite Shen's efforts to persuade Washington not to abandon its World War II ally, the U.S. severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan in 1979.