During the break of my fourth semester at Parahyangan Catholic Indonesia, I humbly took the opportunity to enrol as an intern at the ASEAN-China Centre in Beijing. This was made possible due to the high risk of COVID-19 in the city of Bandung, where my university is located. Therefore, I have been studying online from Beijing and set my goals and purposes in interning at ACC, which include taking in as much knowledge and experience as I can from the work I am given and working to the best of my ability. Before my internship started, I had already hoped that I would get first-hand experience on the day-to-day operation of an intergovernmental organization such as ACC. I also sought to gain experience on how to behave and adhere to work ethics in an intercultural office environment. As I am aware, ACC employs both Chinese and ASEAN employees, and that gave me opportunities to work with colleagues from different cultural and working backgrounds.
Being assigned to the Trade and Investment Division at ACC under Director Guo Chuanwei presented me with plentiful opportunities to contribute and perform tasks during my internship. On 9 August, I was tasked with my first assignment which was to revise a 21-page draft of ACC’s 2021 Annual Report regarding our division’s activities during the first half of the year. The draft includes the summaries and outcomes of goals that ACC wished to achieve and the subsequent events that ACC hosted, co-hosted, and attended to achieve those goals, such as “Promoting ASEAN-China Sustainable Development Cooperation”, “Introducing Trade and Investment Policies of ASEAN in China’s Local Provinces”, and “Strengthening ASEAN-China Sectoral Cooperation”, to name a few.
From September 6 to 9, I was invited to accompany Director Guo along to attend the “3rd BRICS Forum on Partnership on New Industrial Revolution”, “BRICS Exhibition on New Industrial Revolution”, and “China (Fujian) - Indonesia Green Economic Cooperation Promotion Conference” in Xiamen, Fujian province respectively. Representatives from Brazil, Russia, South Africa gave speeches at the BRICS Forum whilst the China-Indonesia conference was attended by Mr. Djauhari Oratmangun, Ambassador of Indonesia to China. In preparation of the “Reception in Celebrating the 30th Anniversary of ASEAN-China Dialogue Relations” I was tasked with coordinating with some diplomats for the confirmation of attendance. Aside from the assignments mentioned above, it should be made clear that I have also been intensively studying ACC’s past activities as well as the present in promoting friendly exchanges between ASEAN and China even before my internship began. I have taken the initiative to do so in order to familiarize myself with the intergovernmental organization I am about to intern for.
In regard to what I have learned throughout my internship at ACC, I would describe my tenure to be fruitful in the sense that I was able to comprehend the structure of ACC as well as the divisions that embody it and the tasks that they perform, respectively. I also learned of the ever-growing relationship between ASEAN and China and the strategic vision of the leaders from both sides. I also learned of the activities of the other divisions such as Education, Culture, and Tourism Division (ECTD) and Information and Public Relations Division (IPRD) and the roles that they play in promoting friendly exchanges and practical cooperation between ASEAN and China, and role of ACC as a one stop information and activities centre.
The business trip to Xiamen with Director Guo proved to be extremely beneficial and constructive as I was able to directly attend three different events. When attending the BRICS Exhibition in particular, I learned that ACC promotes friendly exchanges and practical cooperation through billboards display, video broadcast, bilingual brochures and publications distribution as well as on-site explanation about its achievements in strengthening ASEAN-China relations.
Overall, I am highly satisfied and honored to have interned at ACC as it presented opportunities that I had never received before. As my first internship experience, it gave me helpful insights related to work ethics, values, and professionalism for my future endeavour. I was able to work with many other inters from my division as well as from other divisions and found my time to ACC to be meaningful and knowledgeable. Despite not being able to speak Mandarin, I achieved the goals and purposes that I mentioned in the introduction which was to take in as much knowledge and experience as I can about the functions of ACC and to perform every task I am given to the best of my ability. Thus, I am content with the quality and quantity of the work I was assigned as it helped me reach my purpose in interning at ACC in the first place.
Lastly, I am also fascinated with and have also taken note on Chinese work ethics in the office. Work culture has always been a fascination of mine and during my time at ACC, I was able to observe the hard-work, diligence, discipline, focus and friendliness of Chinese workers. I aspire to work as hard as my colleagues and superiors have done, in my future endeavour. On the other hand, I would be very happy for ACC to gain knowledge regarding my attendance as an intern to show the diversity of ASEAN students interning at ACC.
I am well aware that ACC employs international students, but due to the current COVID-19 Pandemic, I was the only international student present during my time at ACC. For that, I am deeply humbled and thankful for my chance to intern at the ASEAN-China Centre.
京公网安备 11010502040265号