Voices supporting VOA
Robert Daly
Former director of the Kissinger Institute on China and the United States, former U.S. diplomat
TRANSCRIPT:
The pillar of our public diplomacy toward China has always been the Voice of America and its China branch. Voice of America English is, of course, the way that for decades many Chinese have learned English. But the Voice of America China branch has been essential to keeping a dialogue between the United States and the Chinese people.
And that’s the heart of public diplomacy, engaging in ongoing, respectful, but hard-hitting dialogue with the Chinese people in Chinese, while also providing them reliable news.
When the Voice of America China branch gets silenced, Chinese listeners, Chinese audiences, Chinese citizens get most of their information about the United States, about our policy, our values and goals from Chinese media, Chinese party-run media, which is very much opposed to the policies, goals and values of the United States.
When the Voice of America China branch goes silent, we cede the field of public diplomacy to the Chinese government, to the Chinese Communist Party. A lot of damage has already been done.
But I travel back and forth to China several times each year. I meet with many Chinese people who are in the party, people who are on the street, people all over the country. And while I would say that anti-American or ignorant views about America are on the increase, there are still large reservoirs of interest and even of empathy in China. But those reservoirs, like any reservoir, has to be recharged or it’s going to run dry.
Published
Daly is the former director of the Wilson Center’s Kissinger Institute on China and the United States. He previously served as a U.S. diplomat in Beijing and as head of China programs at Johns Hopkins University, Syracuse University and the University of Maryland.