The overarching goal of the public nonprofit East-West Center — established in 1960 by Congress — is to promote cooperation and understanding among nations in Asia, the Pacific and the United States.

Situated between the U.S. mainland, Asia and the Pacific region, the center brings together American and foreign scholars to study and dialogue, to engage in collaborative and cooperative research, to develop theoretical and practical policy options, and to gain expertise in their respective areas.

In a 21st century touted as the Asia-Pacific Century, the East-West Center is a symbol of successful utilization of America’s soft power in Asia and the Pacific. For more than 50 years, the center has served as a major locus for U.S. public diplomacy in this region. Some 60,000 EWC alumni have returned to their state/countries. The center has been a force for good representing America’s human face.

Grantees at the center are thrust together in a short-term, highly intensive communication interaction, emphasizing scholarly discourse. EWC participants return to their homes as key leaders and crucial change agents, thankful for the hospitality and career goals achieved.

Currently, the pursuit of American national interests abroad continues to be steadily promoted by the center. When EWC scholars from Asia, the Pacific and the U.S. are extended a warm welcome, encouraged to listen with open minds and succeed, the resulting reasoned collaboration leads to policy position reconsiderations and lasting change. This translates into EWC alumni and foreign leaders who can positively speak for the U.S. because they hold optimistic memories and experiences of the center and Hawaii.

The result: the promotion of American diplomacy with friendly "foreign ambassadors" disposed to speak affirmatively about our country. This resource pool of foreign leaders can help to explain America and Americans to their own people. This is akin to having U.S. goodwill ambassadors at little cost to our country, relative to our military spending. Each year, for less than the expenditure of a single drone, the EWC builds intangible, incalculable goodwill toward America.

Important to mention is the impact of the EWC to our own American scholars. Aside from many cross-cultural marriages that happen at the center, successful American grantees develop their own constructive experiences here. This enhances their work: Ambassadors Dave Kaeuper and Sylvia Stanfield and the State Department’s Donna Roginski are examples of leaders in America’s foreign policy branches. Like their foreign counterparts, our American scholars have gained important lessons and learned wider cross-cultural perspectives.

EWC alumni hold high-ranking leadership positions as prime ministers and ambassadors; CEOs/presidents of news organizations, universities and corporations; and social-change agents in their communities. Alumni abroad include Philippine Senator K. Pimentel, India’s Prime Minister M. Singh, Malaysia’s Prime Minister N. Rajakare, Mumbai’s Business India’s Executive Editor S. Bana.

Lifetime Achievement awardees A. Zehra of Lahore Pakistan, Taiwan’s R.C.H. Cheng and Okinawa’s former Vice-Gov. H. Miyagi are some examples of successful EWC products, foreign leaders with so much aloha for the center. President Barack Obama’s mom, American Ann Dunham and step-dad Indonesian Lolo Soetero, were EWC scholars.

Thanks to the forward-thinking vision during the 1960s of leaders such as U.S. Sen. Dan Inouye, President Lyndon Johnson and Hawaii Gov. John Burns, the promotion of cross-cultural understanding and cooperation among diverse people and countries has endured. We hope for continuity and increased funding for this successful EWC global gathering place, a unique hub of goodwill and cooperation among countries and people in Asia, the Pacific and the U.S. In the 21st century, to support U.S. diplomacy, we need the EWC more than ever.