Stephen Markley Young (born 1951) is an American diplomat who was the Consul General of the

Consulate General of the United States in Hong Kong The Consulate General of the United States, Hong Kong and Macau, represents the United States in Hong Kong and Macau. It has been located at 26 Garden Road, Central, Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong, since the late 1950s. The consul general is H ...

under the State department in the Obama administration. He took office in March 2010. As Consul General, Young was responsible for the Hong Kong and

Macao Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a po ...

special administrative regions. He was the Director of the

American Institute in Taiwan The American Institute in Taiwan (AIT; ) is the ''de facto'' Embassy of the United States of America in Taiwan. The AIT institution is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the federal government of the United States in Taiwan with Congressional oversi ...

, the ''

de facto ''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with ''de jure'' ("by la ...

'' United States embassy of

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the ...

, from March 18, 2006 to July 3, 2009. He was a member of the faculty at the

National Defense University The National Defense University (NDU) is an institution of higher education funded by the United States Department of Defense, intended to facilitate high-level education, training, and professional development of national security leaders. As ...

Dwight D. Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy The Dwight D. Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy (Eisenhower School), formerly known as the Industrial College of the Armed Forces (ICAF), is a part of the National Defense University. It was renamed on September 6, 20 ...

, located at

Fort Lesley J. McNair Fort Lesley J. McNair is a United States Army post located on the tip of Greenleaf Point, the peninsula that lies at the confluence of the Potomac River and the Anacostia River in Washington, D.C. To the peninsula's west is the Washington Cha ...

. Young served as the U.S. Ambassador to the Kyrgyz Republic from 2003 to 2005.

Biography

Young was born in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

and moved to Taiwan at age 12, where his father served as a military adviser to the

Republic of China Army The Republic of China Army (ROCA), previously known as the Chinese Nationalist Army or Nationalist Revolutionary Army and unofficially as the Taiwanese Army, is the largest branch of the Republic of China Armed Forces. An estimated 80% of th ...

in Kaohsiung from 1963 to 1965. Young earned a B.A. from

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a private liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut. Founded in 1831 as a men's college under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church and with the support of prominent residents of Middletown, the col ...

and an M.A. and Ph.D from the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...

, both in history. Within the

United States Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government responsible for the country's fore ...

, he has served in the

Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs In the United States Government, the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs (EAP, originally the Office of Chinese Affairs) is part of the United States Department of State and is charged with advising the Secretary of State and Under Secre ...

and the Office of Soviet Affairs. He has been the Director of the Office of Caucasus and Security Affairs, the Director of the Office of Caucasus and Central Asian Affairs, the Director of the Office of

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

and

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

Affairs, and the Director of the Office of Chinese and Mongolian Affairs. Young served two tours in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

, a tour in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

. He was the Ambassador to the

Kyrgyz Republic Kyrgyzstan,, pronounced or the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the south, and the People's Republic of China to the east ...

(now

Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan,, pronounced or the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the south, and the People's Republic of China to the ea ...

), and Director of the

. He speaks fluent

Mandarin Chinese Mandarin (; ) is a group of Chinese (Sinitic) dialects that are natively spoken across most of northern and southwestern China. The group includes the Beijing dialect, the basis of the phonology of Standard Chinese, the official language ...

and

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

.Announcement of Stephen M. Young as New Consul General of the United States of America in Hong Kong
While serving at the

Consulate General of the United States, Hong Kong and Macau The Consulate General of the United States, Hong Kong and Macau, represents the United States in Hong Kong and Macau. It has been located at 26 Garden Road, Central, Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong, since the late 1950s. The consul general is H ...

, he also oversaw Macau–United States relations.

Personal

Young married Barbara A. Finamore, an attorney who manages the China Program at the

Natural Resources Defense Council The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is a United States-based 501(c)(3) non-profit international environmental advocacy group, with its headquarters in New York City and offices in Washington D.C., San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Bo ...

, in 1983. They have three children.

Controversy

Young's reputation in Taiwan became controversial after many of his reports were revealed by

WikiLeaks WikiLeaks () is an international non-profit organisation that published news leaks and classified media provided by anonymous sources. Julian Assange, an Australian Internet activist, is generally described as its founder and director and ...

. He was described as an 'ugly American' and an 'ugly diplomat' by

James Soong James Soong Chu-yu (born 16 March 1942) is a Taiwanese politician. He is the founder and current Chairman of the People First Party. Born to a Kuomintang military family of Hunanese origin, Soong began his political career as a secretary to ...

, the chairman of the People First Party (PFP) in

, after Soong learned that he had been described as a 'wily' person in Young's reports. In comments published in the pro-Beijing and Communist Party paper ''

Wen Wei Po ''Wen Wei Po'' is a pro-Beijing state-owned newspaper based in Hong Kong. The newspaper was established in Hong Kong on 9 September 1948, after its Shanghai edition was launched in 1938. Its head office is in the Hing Wai Centre () in Aber ...

'',

Lew Mon-hung Lew Mon-hung (; born 11 December 1948), nicknamed "Dream Bear" based on his Chinese name, is a pro-Beijing Hong Kong businessman, formerly deputy chairman and executive director of Pearl Oriental Oil Limited. Lew was a member of the National ...

, a Hong Kong member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, has criticized Young, stating that he had covertly instigated and planned the

Hong Kong Autonomy Movement Hong Kong Autonomy Movement (), sometimes Hong Kong City State Autonomous Movement (), is a movement formed in Hong Kong amidst the raising awareness about Hong Kong's constitutional rights of high autonomy, free from interference of PRC govern ...

, which Lew compared to the

Taiwan independence movement The Taiwan independence movement is a political movement which advocates the formal declaration of an Independence, independent and Sovereign state, sovereign Taiwanese state, as opposed to Chinese unification or the status quo in Cross-Str ...

, as Young was the then Consul General of the United States in Hong Kong, in an attempt to split Hong Kong away from China.

References

, -

External links

American Institute in Taiwan/Taipei Director - Stephen M. Young
''American Institute in Taiwan'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Young, Stephen M. 1951 births Living people Directors of the American Institute in Taiwan Deputy Directors of the American Institute in Taiwan University of Chicago alumni Wesleyan University alumni People from Washington, D.C. Consul General of the United States in Hong Kong and Macau United States Foreign Service personnel Ambassadors of the United States to Kyrgyzstan