Model U.N.

As mentioned in the introductory paragraph, I had never participated in a Model United Nations event in my life. I had plenty of experience in debate and Michigan’s Model Congress, but hadn’t really considered U.N. simulations something I wanted to do. Certainly at the time my career goal of joining the FBI didn’t exactly jibe with the U.N., and I never found time to do so at American University. However, when classmate Grace Thompson asked us program members if we wanted to join her in doing Model U.N. here at Peking University, I decided to accept the offer.

Officially named the Asian International Model United Nations, the AIMUN hosted schools from around southeast Asia, Europe, and the United States. Of course, the vast majority of the students were Chinese, but other delegates hailed from Singapore, Vietnam, Columbia University, and a delegation from Germany.

Although several folks initially expressed interest, in the end, Grace and I were the only two members of our program to participate. The Secretary-General, “Leo,” was a tall, intense looking PKU student, and apparently he needed to fill several seats on various committees with PKU representatives. Grace and I were slotted on the Security Council simulation committee (English language only, thankfully), and were assigned the Republic of South Africa.

I will confess I got sick the week before the conference, and Grace ended up writing most of the pre-briefing materials. I was well rested, however, by the time the conference started on a Wednesday, and donned my suit and tie once more. The opening session was interesting, a collection of University officials, former and current Chinese diplomats, and several representatives from the Communist Party. We weren’t too sure about the last ones.

The conference was held in the International Studies building, and the Security Council received a nice-sized room. I was impressed stepping in: the tables were neatly arranged, placards indicated each nation’s seating assignment, a projector attached to a laptop hummed at the front of the room, and each delegate had one table microphone. After settling in and listening to the introduction, we got started.

The first thing I noticed was how exceptionally good everyone’s English was. Grace and I were the only native English speakers, and I can say that everyone else in the room easily kept up. Of the remaining students, four were German, two were Swiss, and twenty-two were Chinese or otherwise Asian. Everyone spoke near-perfect English. Although it was clear that Grace and I were the only native speakers, by sentence construction as well as accent, their English was near-grammatically perfect, and most impressive was their extensive diplomatic vocabulary. While I was learning how to say “apple” and “car” in Chinese, these kids, no older than I, were rattling off things like “a five minute unmoderated caucus to discuss the ramifications of the Iranian nuclear heavy-water reactors.” While these students are obviously not representative of their respective nations, I was still very impressed and humbled at how well they had mastered English.

The simulation lasted Wednesday night through Saturday morning. The Security Council decided to tackle the critical question of Iran and its nuclear program, debating the issue for all four days of the conference. The discussion was interrupted intentionally by a “crisis simulation,” whereby the Council dealt with a security crisis that could only last for a single two-hour session. Although Grace and I had speculated from crises ranging from another U.S. attack in the middle east, to an Israeli military strike, the crisis simulation focused on Iran detonating a nuclear device in the middle east, echoing the regular debate themes.

A couple of things struck me. First, everyone did a very good job sticking to his or her roles. The delegation from the United States, Qatar, and Iran, in particular, were excellent. The U.S. delegates, although actually Chinese, stuck with U.S. policy line to the letter, and in the face of overwhelming pressure. The delegates from Qatar, rather lively boys from Switzerland, also did a great job representing the opposite viewpoint, aggressively criticizing any suggestion of military action or economic sanctions. Finally, the two “special guest” delegates from Iran were probably my favorite, shown here. Reading with passion, the delegates would at every turn insist on “Iran’s sovereign right to make nuclear power,” or emphasize that “we really really want to have peace, but you keep making aggressive actions against us.”

Second was how none of us seemed to have any special ideas on how to deal with Iran, suggesting to me that none of us really knew how we would deal with the situation in real life. The various suggestions and drafts offered during the conference more or less echoed the current debate: military strikes, economic sanctions, U.N. inspections, and multi-lateral talks. I suppose in one way it was fascinating to hear that, despite being a prominently Asian group, the options presented were the same. Of course, the actual beliefs of the delegates tended far more to negotiation and multi-lateral discussions, but there were no special or unique policy ideas that I could detect. Although South Africa (Grace and I) did not vote yes for the final resolution, the Security Council did pass a resolution combining limited sanctions, incentives, and a new round of talks.

Why did I sign up? I signed up because I thought it would be fun (which it was), I thought it would be a good way to meet new people (which it was), and I thought it would be a good way to briefly explore what students my age, but from across the world, thought about the future of the world (which it was). The U.S. delegation, I thought, entered the race for almost a competitive reason: the delegates were part of a longstanding team, designed to enter and win as many competitions as possible. The Chinese students I spoke with, however, at least to me, seemed genuinely committed to Model U.N. for what it was: a chance to simulate diplomacy and crisis management in the real world. All in all, it was a fascinating experience.