From Malta to Madrid — My Model ASEM Journey
By: Asefedu, Editor
Tags: Malta, Asem, Sustainable Development, Spain, Modelasem

I was 30 years old when I participated in the 22nd ASEF Summer University (ASEFSU22) in Croatia and Slovenia in 2018. It was an amazing experience, though I thought it would be my last ASEF ‘youth’ experience. So when I received the invitation to be involved in the 9th Model ASEM last year, first to be trained as a Model ASEM Mediator in Malta and then as a 9th Model ASEM Moderator in Madrid, I was thrilled to know I was still qualified to be a ‘young’ leader. I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to stay young and join a group of talented students and young professionals from across Asia and Europe through an amazing five-month journey all the way from Malta to Madrid in 2019.

The author, Ms Beibei JIANG (left) moderating a Senior Official Meeting, with rapporteur Mr Tobias SCHOLZ (right)

In August 2019, following some well-targeted training along with 13 other young leaders, I was Vice-Chair for the Model ASEM Spin-off on the beautiful campus of University of Malta. Thanks to the Spin-Off, I had the opportunity to get comfortable with hosting discussions with a diversified audience and to test and practice all the skills I learnt during the Mediators Training. From October onwards we immersed ourselves into the online learnings, helped draft thematic papers and led the online discussions until we gathered with over 140 participants in Madrid in December. I acted as Moderator for one of the simulated ASEM Senior Officials Meetings themed ‘Multilateral Cooperation in ASEM on Agenda 2030 & the SDGs’. However even though I was ‘trained’ as a moderator, I did not feel that I was more knowledgeable or ‘superior’ to any other participant — on the contrary, I was learning a lot from them, and thanks to the intense experience in both countries I deepened my understanding of Asia-Europe relations and more importantly, how to be a good ‘facilitator’ between the two continents.

Be ‘nobody’ and open to everything

Every participant selected by ASEF is top notch in their home country with impressive exposure and interest in global affairs. In both Malta and Madrid there were student presidents, campaign leaders, international volunteers, and national champions. But during our meetings it was time to forget about our titles and glamourous past — be humble and stay foolish. Learn from everyone because they have amazing stories! Get to know people and be ‘present’ for them. I also found the times I learnt most about my fellow participants were not during formal scheduled meetings but through light conversations during the coffee breaks, lunch hours, or free time in the evenings.

I remember vividly how impressed I was when a Romanian lady, who is 10 years younger than me, told me that the first time she came to China was when she was the lead singer in her national choir and did an international tour to Beijing when she was ten (she even showed me the digital album with her own picture on the cover)! It feels magical how naturally we can connect with people of such different backgrounds, age, and nationality. In a way we are all ‘diplomats’, in our profession or in everyday life. In China, it is not unusual for big deals to be negotiated and agreed on dinner tables. And I think this is something universal — even for the most experienced diplomats, sometimes informal conversations and social interactions are the secret and most effective way to reach some important government to government agreements. At the end of the day, it’s all about people, and connecting with others.

Friendship matters — have fun and learn!

To me Model ASEM is a stage for every participant, a platform to exchange views between Asia and Europe without bias or being judged, and it should not be political per se (of course we have to represent country positions when simulating ASEM meetings and that’s different). More broadly ASEF gives young people and civil societies opportunities to see the commonalities between us and to become friends not enemies. We were together to debate or discuss about how we could collaborate to achieve ‘multilateralism’ through cultural, economic, infrastructure, and technological connectivity — and I believe we all learnt from real Foreign Ministers and senior diplomats in Madrid that we can only achieve positive outcomes by offering mutual trust and inclusive solutions, by embracing differences and abandoning biases.

ModelASEM9 participants at the Cultural Evening

I still very much appreciate those participants who came to me with big smiles on their faces sharing their connections with China and Asia, whether it was an Irish girl speaking to me with fluent Mandarin (turned out she’s the champion in her national Chinese-speaking competitions), or an English lady sharing her experience of working at the Japanese embassy (she was going to happily marry her Chinese fiancé — congratulations!); whether it was an Italian girl who told me her best friend is Korean and she felt she was an Asian in her ‘former life’, or how touched a Spanish boy said he was when he was lost in one of Beijing’s very many narrow Hutongs[1] on a cold Winter night and some kind ‘Chinese auntie’ invited him over and he experienced an authentic Chinese New Year with her family (YES I want to remember all of them!).

Be yourself and be an ‘authentic’ leader.

Needless to say, what a special experience when 140 young, talented, diverse persons are brought together. But we can be good at different things and that’s great! You don’t have to be that final winner of ‘Best Delegate’, and it’s equally valuable to be someone who sings best or dances best, someone who can write thematic papers best or act as rapporteur best, or someone who can speak out loud and speak up, or even someone who tells the funniest (or dullest) joke! If you are not an expert in a specific subject it’s okay — don’t pretend to know everything, nobody does. You contribute to the group in your own unique way, bring your own characters, your own life stories, and you are your own Ambassador. There is no ‘good’ or ‘bad’, just that we are different and that’s what we should celebrate.

When I was in Malta, I knew almost zero about ASEM processes and it was quite challenging to debate on unfamiliar global political topics while representing a foreign country in a foreign language. But I knew I could learn fast and stick to what I am good at to confidently express my views. The ASEM process and ASEF’s projects bring us together and they bring out the best in all of us. Somehow we share the same vision, and that’s the most important thing — we are complementary to each other. And I believe this is also ASEF’s spirit — ‘Diversity Creates’, doesn’t it?

In the margins of the meetings I was asked a number of times what it feels like to work at a British Embassy as a Chinese. Here is my answer: I take pride in connecting the UK with China, in particular by working on a meaningful mission of supporting UK and Chinese organisations to build climate-related capacity to fight against climate change through green finance. I don’t see any difference whether you are British or Chinese when it comes to threats from climate change. It’s the same for ASEM — how can you stay out of it when we are all confronted by violence, inequality or digital disruption brought about through globalisation, no matter where you are?