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Gordon Flake, excutive director of the
Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation, speaks during an interview with
Xinhuanet in Beijing, Oct. 29, 2008.(Xinhuanet Photo)
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By Yao Siyan
BEIJING, Oct. 29 (Xinhuanet) -- "The Internet has fundamentally changed the way we in the United States get to know about China and Asia," said Gordon Flake, executive director of the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation Wednesday.
In an exclusive interview with
Xinhuanet, he pointed out the Internet still needs improvement in its way of
passing information around when responding to questions about the role Internet
has played in U.S.-Asia exchanges and dialogues.
Flake has been working for the
Mansfield Foundation for over eight years. A typical day for him begins on the
Internet, where he first of all checks several major China and Asia-related
websites and blogs.
However, he still remembered the
time when he first began working in the field 20 years ago. "Information flow
was very very slow. You got to know Asia only periodically in American
newspapers, and Asian newspapers came two weeks later."
"There was very little real time
information back then," he stressed, noting what the Internet has really done
"is to democratize information."
"Wherever you are, you can go out
and find at any given time a lot of information about what's going on," he said.
At the same time, he nevertheless is
concerned about some contradictory signs in the "push-pull relationship" between
the Internet and the traditional media outlet.
He said he regards the Internet as a
"pull type of organization" where people have to go and find the information,
whereas the traditional media are in a role of "push." When reading magazines
and journals about China and Asia, he said, he feels "all these publications
gather information and 'push' towards me."
"The web is wonderful and the
traditional media have very important role to play," he added, meaning there
should "strike a balance" between the two. "I appreciate the web, I use the web,
but I'm concerned about some development because of that "push-pull
relationship," Flake concluded.
PRAISE
CHINA'S STUNNING ACHIEVEMNETS
Talking about his recent visit to
China, Flake sighed "I was totally lost" in praise of China's stunning
achievements in various fields of social life.
He said he is particularly impressed
by the pace of changes happening in Beijing -- obviously enabled by the success
of the Olympics and the modernization process.
"I'm dizzy in Beijing. Every
building is new, every street is new," he said, "I used to travel to Beijing, I
always knew where I was. This trip, I never know where I am."
Flake travels frequently to China,
Japan, Korea and other Asian countries as a conference participant and lecturer.
And the current one is his 25th to China and the first in two years.
He is to attend a conference in
Beijing University by young leaders of Asia and speak about the nature of
leadership in the non-profit sector in civil society. He will also discuss more
programming collaboration with Xinhua, and meet the Foundation partners
including the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries
and the All China Youth Federation.
The Maureen and Mike Mansfield
Foundation was created in 1983 to advance Maureen and Mike Mansfield's life-long
efforts to promote understanding and cooperation among nations and peoples of
Asia and the United States.
It sponsors exchanges, dialogues and
publications that create networks among U.S. and Asian leaders, explore the
underlying issues influencing public policies and increase awareness about the
nations and peoples of Asia.
In working with the All China Youth
Federation, the foundation brings Chinese provincial leaders to the United
States to learn about U.S. policymaking at the national and local levels.
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Gordon Flake, excutive director of the
Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation, speaks during an interview with
Xinhuanet in Beijing, Oct. 29, 2008.(Xinhuanet Photo)
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