George Washington University on Tuesday bestowed the President's Medal on Taiwan's outgoing representative to the US, Chen Chien-jen (程建仁), in recognition of his promotion of friendship between the countries and his contributions to promoting bilateral academic exchanges.
George Washington University president Stephen Trachtenberg, who presided over the ceremony, lauded Chen's contributions by saying that he had played the role of a bridge between Taiwan and the US over a long diplomatic career.
Trachtenberg also expressed his appreciation for Chen's firm support for scholarly exchanges between the two countries, noting that his university had established a relationship with Yuan Ze University in Taoyuan County.
The President's Medal is the highest honor bestowed by the university. Past winners include former Czech Republic president Vaclav Havel, former Israeli president Ezer Weizman, US Senator Joseph Lieberman, US Senate majority leader Bill Frist and Boston University president John Silber.
Chen said that he had spent 20 of the 37 years of his diplomatic career in Washington and that he had learned not only the importance of protecting the national interest but also the importance of respecting the interests of the countries with which one was engaged.
He said that he accepted the honor with pride and humility. In addition to extending appreciation to George Washington University, he also thanked his wife, who was on hand to witness the ceremony.
The university also arranged for a Taiwanese student, Tsao Yi-ying (曹逸盈), to talk about Chen. Tsao, who is studying for a master's degree in museum management, said that Chen was very kind to students, which she said had changed her stereotype of high-ranking officials.
Nearly 100 people, including academic and diplomatic figures, including officials from Taiwan's representative office in the US, and Taiwanese students studying at George Washington University, attended the ceremony.
US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs James Kelly was also present.
Chen, 65, started his diplomatic career as a secretary at the former Taiwan embassy in the US. He became Taiwan Representative to the US in 2000.
He has also served as a legislator, director-general of the Government Information Office and minister of foreign affairs.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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