An Analysis Of The Role Of Ambassador In Public Diplomacy

Gary Locke, former U.S. Ambassador to China, is known as the most famous U.S.Ambassador to China in the history. He showcased a vivid lesson of public diplomacyto diplomats around the world, by a series of movements, including posing as a “cleanofficial”by taking economy class on a flight to his China post, releasing PM2.5airpollution monitoring data and thus triggering heated Chinese domestic debate ofenvironmental protection standard, and sparing no efforts to speed up U.S. visaapproval process.“Phenomenon of Gary Locke” in China looks like incidental, but in fact, it isinevitable. Such a phenomenon took place with external and internal conditions,including the public diplomacy’s major development tendency in counting on internetand social media, particularly the U.S. President Obama’s promotion of “smart powerdiplomacy” and “E diplomacy”, and most importantly, the emerging “grassrootsmedia” or “We Media” such micro-blog in China and people’s growing consciousnessof civil society.“Phenomenon of Gary Locke” is the first application of the U.S. newconcept of public diplomacy in China, which imposes brand new challenges toChinese government in dealing with its domestic and foreign affairs.Therefore, countermeasures and relevant studies must be taken into account. In themeantime,“Phenomenon of Gary Locke” is also a critical indicator to China that anAmbassador to foreign countries, compared with a head of a state, has more flexibilityand advantages to perform in public diplomacy, particularly in a time of “We Media”and globalization. We should accelerate exploration of an Ambassador’s potential rolein public diplomacy and how an Ambassador’s image help build up a nation’s imagein global society.