Raymond Burghardt
Raymond F. Burghardt in an interview by Voice of America, 2016.
United States Ambassador to Vietnam
In office
February 5, 2002 – September 5, 2004
PresidentGeorge W. Bush
Preceded byPete Peterson
Succeeded byMichael W. Marine
Director of American Institute in Taiwan
In office
1999–2001
PresidentBill Clinton
George W. Bush
Preceded byDarryl N. Johnson
Succeeded byDouglas H. Paal
Chairman of American Institute in Taiwan
In office
February 2006 – October 2016
PresidentGeorge W. Bush
Barack Obama
Preceded byWilliam Andreas Brown
Succeeded byJames F. Moriarty
Personal details
Born
Raymond F. Burghardt Jr.

1945
New York, New York, United States
Alma materColumbia College

Raymond Burghardt (born 1945) is an American diplomat who served as the United States Ambassador to Vietnam from 2002 to 2004, Director (1999-2001) as well as Chairman of American Institute in Taiwan from 2006 to 2016.

Biography

Burghardt was born in New York City in 1945 and was raised in the New York metropolitan area.[1][2] He graduated from Columbia College in 1967.[3]

In 1985, Burghardt was nominated by President Ronald Reagan to serve as Special Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, replacing Constantine Menges as Senior Director of Latin American Affairs on the National Security Council staff.[4]

Prior to his posting to Taiwan, Burghardt was Consul General in Shanghai from 1997 to 1999 and served as the U.S. Government’s chief interlocutor with the late Wang Daohan, the People’s Republic of China’s lead negotiator with Taiwan.[1] He was appointed on November 28, 2001 to be the second United States Ambassador to Vietnam, replacing Pete Peterson.

From February 2006 to October 2016, he served as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the American Institute in Taiwan.[1] He concurrently served as Director of East-West Seminars at the East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawaii from 2006 to 2012.[1][5]

He is one of the few diplomats who was a serving Foreign Service Officer when the United States derecognized the Republic of China in 1979 and remains a skeptic of the validity of the 1992 Consensus.[6] As outgoing AIT chairman, he also called for "creativity" and "flexibility" in dealing with the political impasse in cross-strait relations.[7]

Burghardt is able to speak Vietnamese, Mandarin Chinese, and Spanish.[8]

Burghardt was awarded the Order of Propitious Clouds in 2008.[9]

References

  1. ^ a b c d "Ambassador Raymond Burghardt, Former Chairman of the American Institute in Taiwan (Tenure: 2006 - 2016) | American Institute in Taiwan". American Institute in Taiwan. Retrieved 2020-05-19.
  2. ^ "Raymond F. Burghardt Jr. - People - Department History - Office of the Historian". history.state.gov. Retrieved 2020-05-19.
  3. ^ Sachare, Alex (May 2002). "Living a Liberal Arts Life". Columbia College Today. Retrieved May 19, 2020.
  4. ^ "Nominations & Appointments, October 24, 1985". Ronald Reagan. Retrieved 2021-06-23.
  5. ^ Burghardt, Raymond (February 29, 2012). "NEW STRATEGIC PARTNERS U.S. AND VIETNAM BEGIN TOUGH TRADE TALKS". www.eastwestcenter.org. Retrieved 2020-05-19.
  6. ^ "The US and the 1992 Consensus". thediplomat.com. Retrieved 2020-05-22.
  7. ^ Soo, Dennis (2016-09-13). "Outgoing AIT chair calls on Taipei, Beijing to adopt creativity, flexibility in solving impasse". Asia News Network. Retrieved 2020-05-22.
  8. ^ Department Of State. The Office of Electronic Information, Bureau of Public Affairs. "Burghardt, Raymond F." 2001-2009.state.gov. Retrieved 2020-05-22.
  9. ^ "總統贈勳並接見美國在台協會理事主席薄瑞光". www.president.gov.tw (in Chinese (Taiwan)). Retrieved 2020-05-20.
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