Speeches and Articles by Former Consul General James B. Cunningham

Consul General James B. Cunningham
Remarks on the Presentation of
The Fulbright-AIG Scholar Award in honor of Frank Martin
and
The Fulbright-Bank of America (Asia) Scholar Award in honor of Frank Martin
April 21, 2006
U.S. Consulate General
26 Garden Road, Central, Hong Kong

U.S. Consul General Cunningham, former Chairman of American Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Frank Martin, AIG President Gerry Wyndorf and Bank of America ( Asia) President Sam Tsien presented the checks to the two Frank Martin Fulbright Scholars, Ms. Gu Weixia and Mr. Wong Man Sing, at the ceremony held at the U.S. Consulate General, Friday, April 21. Ms. Gu is a candidate for Doctorate in Legal Science (SJD) at Hong Kong University, and Mr.Wong, a candidate for the PhD in the Department of Land Surveying and Geo-Informatics of the HK Polytechnic University.

Ladies and gentlemen,

It's my great pleasure welcome you here today to celebrate the accomplishments of two remarkable young people and to honor an American for his contributions to Hong Kong during his 30 years here. I also want to recognize the generosity of two American companies for contributing to the development of US-Hong Kong relations by investing in its future – today's students.

The Fulbright Scholarship is the U.S. Government's oldest and most prestigious program promoting educational exchange. Begun by Senator William J. Fulbright in the wake of World War II, the program has provided more than 260,000 participants – both American and international – with an opportunity to study abroad to deepen their knowledge and to increase mutual understanding.

The Fulbright Program in Hong Kong has changed over the years. U.S. scholars have been coming to Hong Kong under Fulbright since the 1980s. Four years ago, with the generous support of the Research Grants Council, the program was extended to Hong Kong faculty members, four of whom go to the U.S. each year to carry out research projects.

The Fulbright graduate student program represents another new direction for the Fulbright program. Last year, we sought corporate partners to work with us in a public-private partnership to support Hong Kong students for a period of research in the U.S. AIG and Bank of America have stepped forward to join with us in this effort. In doing so, they are acting in the finest tradition of American companies that give back to the community. It's particularly fitting that in making these awards they honor Mr. Frank Martin, former president of the American Chamber of Commerce.

We've managed to lure Frank back from Scottsdale, Arizona to have him with us today. We've named these first awards in honor of Frank is because of his service to education here in Hong Kong. During the almost 30 years Frank was in Hong Kong, in addition to his day job, Frank found time to serve on the management board of the Hong Kong International School, to be a founding member of the Hong Kong – America Center, to serve on the Advisory Committee of the Institute for International Education in Hong Kong, to serve as Honorary VP of the Business Association of Hong Kong University, and to mentor numerous HK students through his work at AmCham.

Our first award recipients this year are Gu Weixia, a candidate for a doctorate in Legal Science at Hong Kong University and Charles Wong Man Sing, a PhD candidate at Hong Kong Polytechnic University. With support from Bank of America, Ms. Gu will be a visiting scholar at the law school of New York University, where she will develop her dissertation on adapting PRC arbitration to globalization. With AIG's support, Mr. Wong will spend ten months at the University of Maryland's Dept. of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science, working with a NASA project to monitor air pollutants.

The development of the rule of law in China and environmental pollution in the PRD are two areas that will have an important impact on the future development of Hong Kong. I commend the scholars for their accomplishments and I look forward to their future contributions.