Murdoch University has honoured well-regarded and accomplished expert and author in East Asia affairs, Dr Ken Chern.

Dr Chern, the United States Consul General in Perth, will receive an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from Murdoch in recognition of his distinguished career in diplomacy.

Before taking up his latest position in Perth in 2007, Dr Chern was the Deputy Consul General in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

Dr Chern, a published author and presenter of television show Twentieth Century China, which screened in 1981, was also been posted to Beijing, Taipei, Hong Kong, Manila, and Cebu.

He also spent six months at the White House during the administration of President Bill Clinton as Director of Asian Affairs at the National Security Council, helping to organise the first APEC leaders meeting in Seattle.

Murdoch University Vice Chancellor Professor John Yovich said Dr Chern was a worthy recipient of the Honorary Doctorate.

“Dr Chern has an enormous depth of knowledge and experience in South Asian affairs,” Professor Yovich said.

“Through Murdoch’s Asia Research Centre, Murdoch has established itself as an international leader in the study of East and South-East Asia, undertaking fundamental interdisciplinary and disciplinary research into a wide range of social, political and economic dynamics within the region.”

（www.eduwo.com, Anna）