President Chen Shui-bian (
The award was the first ever granted to an official at the defacto representative office since the United States broke off ties with Taiwan in 1979.
"Being able to maintain such close ties over the past year and have uninhibited communications and trust, we have Director Raymond Burghardt and Deputy Director Steven Young to thank for their efforts in leading AIT and all of its members," Chen said.
President Chen said that he hoped that in giving Young the award, who has served at AIT since 1998, the gesture would symbolically serve as the opening of a new page in relations between both sides.
Since stepping into office President Chen has been constantly railed by opposition politicians for his handling of cross-strait relations, but the United States has praised President Chen's efforts.
Just recently on an overseas trip to visit Taiwan's allies in Central America Chen was allowed to have two stopovers in the United States and given treatment unheard of before he was elected into office.
Before presenting the award to Young, who has lived in Taiwan four times over the past 38 years, President Chen first sought the approval of the US State Department last week, which was supportive of the gesture, sources close to the president revealed.
Young said that it was a great honor to receive the award and that it was fate that had brought him to Taiwan four times in over 38 years.
During those visits Young said he was priviledged to not only be able to witness first hand Taiwan's transformation into a successful world economy but also its more recent move to become a respected democracy.
`Little nobel'
The president yesterday also congratulated Ann Lai, a 16-year-old Chinese-American winner of several prestigious science awards, for being "the pride of all Chinese people."
He said while receiving her in the Presidential Office that because she is the first three-time winner in the 52-year history of the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) and a finalist in the 60th annual Intel Science Talent Search (STS) award, chances are good that she will follow in the footsteps of five previous STS winners who have gone on to win a Nobel Prize.
The STS award is considered by many to be the "Little Nobel."
Chen praised Lai for taking her concern for mankind and for the earth as a starting point when she designed her STS winning project -- a microsensor that monitors and controls smokestack sulfur dioxide emissions that cause acid rain.
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