The Model UN Post!

Before I begin this latest post, I just want to let you all know that when I told my co-workers at the LA Times that my blog had been blocked by the Chinese authorities, they all said, “Congratulations!” I guess it means I wrote something worth reading. Anyway, moving on…

So here it is, the moment I know you’ve all been waiting for: the Model UN post. First of all, I apologize for the delay in actually getting this post up – it was kind of a combination of being extremely busy with classes, trips around Beijing, and my internship and just not wanting to condense all of Model UN into a blog entry. But enough about that. A little over a week ago I participated in the Asian International Model United Nations (AIMUN) conference here at PKU. Now, I’ve competed in a number of Model UN conferences, but this one was by far the most interesting/slightly unusual one I’ve ever been to.

The conference started on Wednesday, March 14, and lasted through the following Saturday. In total, there were approximately 400 delegates, 300 of whom were Chinese. The remaining 100 were a mix of Japanese, Korean, Taiwanese (although there’s no differentiation between the Chinese and Taiwanese students here on the Mainland!), South East Asian, European, and American students. I’d say there were less than ten Americans. I represented South Africa on the Security Council along with my friend Michael, who’s also part of my study abroad program, and besides us, the only other Americans were part of a delegation from Columbia University. This automatically made the conference a whole lot more intriguing. It’s worth mentioning that despite the fact that an overwhelming majority of the participating students were Chinese, there were only two or three committees run in Chinese. The rest, including the Security Council, were run in English.

As I’ve already mentioned, Michael and I represented South Africa on the Security Council. Our topic was the nuclear advance of Iran. I always scan articles about these kinds of situations in newspapers or hear about them in the news, but I never really appreciate the difficulty of dealing with such matters until I actually have to try and come up with solutions to them, in this case as a delegate on UN Security Council. By the same token, I’ve read and listened to news reports that seem to demonstrate and/or discuss the ineffectiveness of the real UN, but it’s hard to really understand that ineffectiveness until you are forced to solve a dilemma of such magnitude within the framework of the UN. It is true that the UN has had accomplishments with regards to humanitarian issues, but there is still so much that it can’t do, especially when it comes to the Security Council. It has no way of enforcing its resolutions, relying solely on the will of member states to fulfill their obligations. I’m not advocating for the abolishment of the UN because I think it has great potential. However, it is in serious need of reform.

In case you might be interested in this issue, check out this feature article in the March 5^th edition of Newsweek, which is about why the UN in its current form is bound to fail: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17311792/site/newsweek/ .

I won’t bore you with all of the legislative details of our committee because I could go on and on about that, but by the session’s end on Saturday morning we had managed to pass a resolution. It was actually a pretty bad resolution, so Michael and I argued strongly against it, but since South Africa didn’t have much power on the committee, there wasn’t much we could do to prevent it from being passed.

There were several social events sponsored by AIMUN to promote friendship and whatnot between delegates. On Thursday night we took buses to an area of Beijing called the Hohai district, which has a number of restaurants, bars, and lounges surrounding a small lake. That night was kind of funny because I ended up being the only American who went to Hohai. Michael couldn’t make it because he had to do some work for some of our classes, and I’m not sure where the Columbia kids were. However, I had a great time. I spent most of the evening hanging out with a group that consisted of some Chinese students from my committee, a couple of Japanese students, a couple of Thai students, and some German students. It was a good thing they all spoke English, because we definitely had no shortage of conversation topics. Which reminds me: as it turns out, one of the German girls has actually been to Maine before! Usually I don't expect people here to know where Maine is, and I usually end up saying something like, "north of Boston," or "practically Canada". But this girl actually spent a couple summers up near Bar Harbor. Crazy! Also, many of the Germans that I met go to school near the Black Forest region of Germany, which is where my German ancestors are from. In fact, I looked so much like this one girl that a couple of Chinese students thought we were sisters!

On Friday night, AIMUN put on some sort of party (I say “some sort” because I honestly don’t know how to explain it – it was kind of like a talent show, party, and dance all in one, and to be honest, it was one of the strangest social events I’ve ever been to. Michael and I agreed that all we could really say to explain it was “T.I.C.”). There were a few acts – mainly people singing or dancing. Some Bangladeshi girls did a traditional (a.k.a. belly) dance from Bangladesh, and the European guys went wild. One of the committee chairs did a magic show. Our committee chair sang a stirring rendition of "Memories" from the musical Cats. Another guy sang Queen's "We Will Rock You" (now THAT was interesting), and my personal favorite was the guy who rapped in Chinese then wowed the crowd with his sweet basketball moves. The people who ran the party handed out glow sticks upon entering the room, and the Chinese kids went crazy with them. Afterwards, there was a dance to some circa-late 1990s American music and random Chinese pop music that probably lasted no more than an hour. I was surprised at how many Chinese students informed me that that was their first party or dance. One guy told me about how much he wished his school put on dances. When I asked him if he could ask the school’s administration about it, he said, “Oh, no, we could never do that. It’s been tried before. Dances like this are not allowed”. It’s not like anything vulgar was going on – in fact, it was probably one of the most innocent dances I’ve ever been to. It was funny though, because after the party ended, so many random Chinese students came up to me to have their pictures taken with me, even though I’d never met them before. Also, some of the Chinese guys I spoke with would usually say something like, “sorry if what I’m saying comes out confusing, but I'm kind of nervous because you’re the first American girl I’ve ever talked to in my life!”

One of the most amusing aspects of the conference were the various responses of the other delegates, especially the Chinese delegates, to my Security Council colleague, Michael. Michael, in fact, was born in South Korea and is ethnically Korean, however, his parents adopted him and brought him back to the US when he was a baby, and he was raised in Michigan (Mom – near Muskegon!). The Chinese delegates kept coming up to him and saying things like, “your English is so good!” Or they would be amazed that he didn’t speak Chinese or Korean. Even the Germans had an amusing reaction because Michael has a German last name, which gave them pause whenever he mentioned it. AIMUN’s daily newsletter even did a feature story on him! Our friends from the study abroad program got a kick out of that.

Throughout the entire conference, I was very impressed with the English abilities of the various delegates. Naturally, the Germans spoke very good English. However, the Chinese delegates’ English was also very good. I wish I could one day speak another language as well as they speak English.

One issue that has continued to register with me is the underlying sense of dramatic irony that I feel when around Chinese students. Dramatic irony is a literary and theater term that describes instances where the audience knows something that the characters don’t know. It’s true – I do know things that the Chinese students don’t know, mainly with regards to the true nature of their government and the modern history of their country, and the fact that I have this information and they have been unknowingly barred from learning about it is a little unsettling. It’s also just plain awkward if you let something about, say, Tiananmen Square slip in conversation, and the Chinese students immediately perk up and go, “what did you just say?” I think they know that they lack certain information because the government refuses to let them in on certain things, but most don’t know the specifics of that information. I'm pretty sure that would drive me insane.

All in all, Model UN was an eye-opening experience. Being one of the only Americans (or Westerners, at that) at an overwhelmingly Asian conference was fascinating. I’m so glad I decided to participate in AIMUN because in addition to making a ton of new friends, I was exposed to a more Asian outlook on world affairs. It was one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve ever had.

Here are some pictures from the conference (courtesy of Michael Wagner):

Opening ceremony...

I'm so excited to be representing South Africa at the Asian International Model United Nations Conference!

Clearly the coolest delegates at AIMUN: Michael and I, representing South Africa

Security Council chamber

The AIMUN Security Council in action, attempting to save the world from the nuclear advance of Iran

"Where are the operative clauses we wrote in Working Paper 1.6, and why are they not being integrated into this draft resolution?!"

South Africa probably had the most suave delegation (by the way, I'm wearing that scarf because it was St. Patrick's Day and that was the only green I could find, and everyone knows you have to wear green on St. Patricks Day!)...