喬治·赫伯特·沃克·布殊先生讚辭.pdf

Doctor of Social Sciences honoris causa The Honorable President George Herbert Walker Bush Citation delivered by Professor Wei Zhao, Rector of the University of Macau The Honorable President George Herbert Walker Bush, Dr. Daniel Chi Wai Tse, Honorable Chairman of the University Council, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, Once a faculty member of Texas A&M University and now, the Rector of the University of Macau, I feel greatly honored to be here today to speak on this special occasion. It is with a combination of pride and honor that I am about to deliver this citation on the Honorable President George Herbert Walker Bush, on behalf of the University of Macau. Known to the world as the 41st President of the United States of America, President George Herbert Walker Bush is a significant figure and leading pioneer in Sino-U.S. relations and has played an irreplaceable role in the normalization of Sino-U.S. relations and the development of this important bilateral relationship in the past 35 years. Mr. Chairman of the University Council, please allow me to introduce and elaborate on President Bush’s great achievements and recognitions that have inspired us deeply for decades. President George H. W. Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts. At the age of 18, he enlisted in the Navy and became the youngest naval aviator in U.S. history, where he served with great distinction until the end of World War II. He then attended Yale University, graduating Phi Beta Kappa with a degree in economics in 1948. Following his relocation to West Texas and entry into the oil business, he became a millionaire by the age of 40. Soon after founding his own oil company, President Bush became involved in national politics and served as a member of the House of Representatives, among other positions. In 1981, he was chosen by Republican Party nominee Ronald Reagan to become his administration’s Vice President, a position in which he served for eight years. In 1988, 1 澳門大學 格式五 UM - Modelo 5 President Bush became his Party’s nominee, and the American people’s choice, to succeed Mr. Reagan as the 41st President. As the U.S. President, President Bush formulated views on the importance of international alliances and forged relations with countries all over the world. His leadership proved vital to the resolution of some of the most critical conflicts of the time and, consequently, President Bush’s foreign policy became the hallmark and the foundation of his historical legacy. Among the series of important political positions in which President Bush served prior to his presidency, he was particularly notable to the Chinese people for his appointment as Chief of the U.S. Liaison Office in the People’s Republic of China between October 1974 and December 1975. President Bush’s remarkable recognition to China was his personal foreign diplomacy in maintaining the extensive China-U.S. relations that had been fostered over the previous few decades. He traveled to Beijing during a critical period when the United States was renewing its ties with China. Representing the Americans as optimistic, enterprising, down-to-earth and friendly, President Bush established meaningful relationships with China’s top leaders, made enduring efforts to strengthen and progress the friendship between these two nations, and encouraged a peaceful resolution of cross-Strait issues. President Bush’s China diary in the 1970s revealed how China mattered to him and to the American history which he helped to develop. He fondly portrayed his deep memories of China, his impression of the Chinese people, his local explorations by bicycle and his devotion to Chinese food, language lessons, and Ping-Pong during that pivotal period when the two countries were still in the discovery stage of their relationship. As the U.S. envoy to China, President Bush made every effort in expanding the pleasant people-to-people exchanges, addressed the two countries’ differences in a spirit of mutual respect, enhanced dialogues and made tremendous progress in building a relationship that was candid and constructive. He called for strengthening achievements and resolving discrepancies and concerns based on long-term planning. The art of quiet diplomacy, which President Bush mastered in China, also laid the foundations for the pragmatic, prudent, personal style of diplomacy that 2 澳門大學 格式五 UM - Modelo 5 would successfully mark and characterize his later presidency. Indeed, each of President Bush’s greatest foreign policy achievements emerged and grew from his Beijing experience. His fifteen months’ experience in China was a positive period of growth for President Bush’s personal life, the United States, China, and the World. In this 60th year of the establishment of the People’s Republic of China, it is also auspicious to acknowledge the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the People’s Republic of China and the United States of America. Like a vivid scroll of history, the bilateral relations have experienced twists and turns and the two countries have exchanged many handshakes over these 30 years. Such achievements signal President Bush’s contributions in promoting these bilateral ties to harvest further achievements that will continue to benefit the two nations and so boost peace, stability, and development in the world. Despite assuming so many other important positions in his life, President Bush has never receded from his interests in China-U.S. relations and to this day, Chinese President Hu Jintao praises President Bush for his contributions to China-U.S. relations, while the former President of the People’s Republic of China, Mr. Jiang Zemin, acclaimed President George Bush as an old friend of the Chinese people who knows China very well. From his days as a young Texas congressman to witnessing his son become the 43 rd President of the United States, President George Bush, a great president and an old friend of China, has been instrumental in his diplomatic role on the world stage and has won high regard and deep respect from the Chinese people for his consistent and heartfelt endeavors to cultivate the China-U.S. relations. Mr. Chairman of the University Council, on behalf of the University of Macau, I have the greatest honor to request you to confer on the Honorable President George Herbert Walker Bush, the 41st President of the United States, the degree of Doctor of Social Sciences, honoris causa. 3 澳門大學 格式五 UM - Modelo 5