Mayor has up-close understanding of China

The Union City, California, official has long been fond of Chinese culture and is about to visit sister city Liyang in Jiangsu province

Carol Dutra-Vernaci is surrounded by Chinese paintings and knick-knacks - all gifts from her Chinese friends or souvenirs from her trips to China.

The mayor of Union City, about 30 miles south of San Francisco in Silicon Valley, has kept a close rapport with the "Middle Kingdom" on the other side of the globe.

"One of my good friends when I was growing up happened to be Chinese, so I was exposed at an early age to Chinese culture and what it had to offer," Dutra-Vernaci told China Daily in her City Hall office. "It's just nice as an adult I've been exposed to even more."

On Feb 27, she will attend an annual event in the city held by the Chinese community there, and on April 28, she will embark on a trip to Liyang, a Chinese city in Jiangsu province and a sister city of Union City, at the invitation of Liyang's mayor, to attend the Tea Festival there.

A lifetime resident of Union City, Dutra-Vernaci has been serving the city since 1988, when she was appointed to the Redevelopment Advisory Committee.

She was then appointed to the Planning Commission, where she served until she was elected to the City Council in 1997. She spent 13 years on the City Council, including three as vice-mayor, before she was elected mayor.

Union City has a diverse population, with 10.8 percent of its 74,000 residents of Chinese heritage. The Chinese community has kept an "excellent relationship" with the others, the mayor said. "It's an example of one of the ways that we exemplify that relationship every year through Union City specifically and through our sister city program."

Her connection with China put her on two trade missions to the country in June 2014 and July 2015, when Dutra-Vernaci joined other local leaders from the Bay Area and took part in the programs to further economic development ties with the region.

"Each trip was uniquely different," she said. The second trip, themed "innovation, interaction and green", took the mayors to Beijing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, as well as second-tier cities like Chengdu and Jiangmen, where they met with Chinese government leaders at provincial and city levels and discussed topics from building international incubators and service platforms for small- to medium-sized businesses to enhancing strategic and international entrepreneurship cooperation.

What struck her the most is the business park that was in the process of being created. "So we were actually in the 'construction trailer' with the model of what they knew their business park was going to look like," she said.

The technology was what Silicon Valley is all about, and in China it certainly was the focus when they were visiting tech centers. She spoke of the E Hub in Shenzhen, an entrepreneur hub for innovative youth startups from around the world.

"There's certainly a synergy because we are working on compatible projects," she said. "I don't want to say similar, because that is not necessarily true. Everything is different, but products are considered compatible, and then the technology is being used to develop the products."

From those trips, Dutra-Vernaci said she gained a deeper understanding of the Chinese culture.

"Chinese people like to do business with people that they consider their friends. So that's what we learned on the first trip, that if you establish a friendship, you also establish a trust, and that certainly is very helpful in the business environment where you try to make decisions," she said. "But if you work with somebody you trust, it's a lot easier than somebody you don't know anything about."

Although no Chinese companies have directly set up shop in Union City, they did "open up lines of communication" with some of Union City's businesses, she said. "Some folks (from China) have come to Union City; we've managed to introduce them."

"It's 'opening the doors' that we hadn't opened before I went on these trips for folks in China and the rest of the world to see what Union City has to offer for the expansion of their firms," she explained.

"It's a learning process; you can't just show up somewhere for the first time and open up your business without taking the time to learn a little bit about the area and the infrastructure."

As an income tax professional and a business owner who has had her tax practice in Union City for more than 30 years, Dutra-Vernaci said, "For a company coming to the United States, they certainly need to go into the City Hall and make sure they understand completely what it is they need to be doing, plus they will find excellent resources at the City Hall, because every city is anxious to have the businesses located into their town.

"That's my advice: If you find a city you are interested in, get into the city hall as soon as possible and start talking to them so that you can work together."

liazhu@chinadailyusa.com