A Long, Fruitful Journey

Carmen Cano, Deputy Head of the European Union (EU)'s Delegation to China and Mongolia, has worked in China for almost 10 years. [Women of China English Monthly/Zhang Ping]

Carmen Cano, Deputy Head of the European Union (EU)'s Delegation to China and Mongolia, has worked in China for almost 10 years. Based on her experiences, Cano says Chinese like to socialize with foreigners, and Chinese are generally open and eager to share their lives with others. Cano believes traveling is an important tool — and an indispensable part of the job — used by diplomats to better understand the country in which they are posted.

Forty years and counting! China and the European Union this year mark the 40th anniversary of diplomatic relations. To commemorate the occasion, Women of China recently interviewed Cano. The following is that conversation:

Women of China (WOC): When did you begin working in China? What was your first impression of China? What about the capital, Beijing?

Cano: (The year) 2006 was the first time I worked in China, when I took up my post as a counselor at the Spanish Embassy. When I arrived in China, I (noticed) the country was huge, fascinating and full of differences and contrasts between the old, traditional things and the new things.

Beijing was for me a very cosmopolitan, lively and dynamic city, with a lot of places and corners to discover. Now, it's maybe a little bit difficult to (live) in Beijing, (due to) the air pollution and the heavy traffic. But Beijing still surprises me with some places and corners (worth) discovering.

WOC: You have lived in China for almost 10 years. Have you had any remarkable experiences in China?

Cano: I was particularly impressed by (events in China during) 2008, when the Olympic Games were held in Beijing. It was a very special time, not only for the capital, but also for China.

Since I arrived in China (in 2006), I have tried to travel as much as possible. I happened to be in Chengdu (capital of southwestern China's Sichuan Province) two days after a magnitude-8 earthquake ravaged Sichuan Province (also in 2008). Since that year, I have visited Chengdu on several other occasions.

I have been surprised by the ability of the Sichuan people, and people from other places in China, to confront difficulties and face problems, even during the most difficult periods, such as when Sichuan was stricken by the earthquake.

WOC: What is the EU's vision for enhancing trade, cultural exchanges and people-to-people communications with China?

Cano: I think the European Union and China share responsibilities (for enhancing) peace, prosperity and sustainable development. If we look back on the past 40 years, we can see that we have come a long way. Now, we have very broad and deep cooperation in various areas, such as trade, economics and political and social (matters). We are becoming more interdependent in all of these sectors, and we need each other to face common challenges. I believe there is a lot of untapped potential in certain areas, (for instance) when we talk about trade negotiations, climate change negotiations and other international issues. There is still room to develop cooperation.

I would like to mention, particularly, urbanization and the development of cities in China. We understand very well that China is facing challenges from urbanization … Europe went through (urbanization) before. We managed to turn challenges into benefits. We also learned from our mistakes. We are ready to share with our Chinese counterparts how to confront challenges during urbanization. We think cities should be people-centered, and that we should have cities in which we can live, work and engage in leisure activities, and where our children can see stars every night.
We have compiled a list of activities to mark the 40th anniversary of the EU and China establishing diplomatic relations. The activities will include cultural events, people-to-people exchanges and high-level visits between leaders of governments.

I think people-to-people exchanges are key to developing mutual understanding and (to building) more connections between our societies. I'm glad that we now have 250,000 Chinese students in Europe, and that there are 40,000 Europeans studying in China, to not only learn the language, but also to conduct research in various subjects. This is just the beginning. We have a lot of work to do to make the figures rise even higher.

We are also developing exchanges involving gender issues. For example, we have organized a seminar on domestic violence. We have shared our experiences from legislation in Europe to combat domestic violence, and the difficulties with which we had to cope when we implemented the legislation to fight domestic violence. We have also held discussions on how to promote and facilitate the presence of women at high levels in politics, and how to enhance women's participation in economic and social activities.

WOC: Do you think female diplomats have some skills that help them promote and enhance communications among nations? What are the challenges they have to cope with?
 

Cano: I think both male and female diplomats face similar challenges nowadays. One of the main challenges is (balancing) work and family life … This is a common challenge for all diplomats, because we need to move very often, and we tend to live in different countries.

The main task of a diplomat is getting to know the country … and to better understand the culture, way of life, challenges and opportunities in that country. We rely on our diplomatic skills and on our capacity to adapt to and understand (the country/region) … to transmit (relevant messages) to our headquarters or respective governments.

I don't think the skills are gender related. It is important to underline that a mixed team (a team composed of both male and female members) achieves much better results. I think it is positive to see women who are (playing) bigger roles in the decision-making process, especially when dealing with (issues related to) politics, economics, business and culture.

(Source: Women of China English Monthly April 2015 Issue)