Asia-Pacific Model United Nations Conference 2021

Well, I first knew of the event when the leader in Book Box TNH forwarded a link about the event. This year, due to the pandemic, this conference is held online and are open to students from all over the world, which is great because I do not need to travel to Australia in order to attend an offline conference. I had known of this for quite a long time, but I lingered and did not sign up, when I decided to sign up, it was just three days left. And payment had to be made, knowledge had to be absorbed, preparation should be made. I still have homework from my school, meetings from The Torch, so my schedule became so busy, but I managed.

I got assigned into the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) B which will deal with Climate change and security, and I would represent Norway in this case. I missed the rules of procedures clarification meeting due to classes, so when I got in the Social meeting, I was totally blank in the head. I asked Director-Rigel whether he could go through the rules of procedures again, and he was so nice to agree to help me out. Well, it was my first time at a MUN conference, and being a newbie, you may feel nothing but confused and puzzled. And, I had to learn the rules in 2h, since the next meeting is bound to start soon. I tried my best, but when the meeting started, I could still not feel well. Hopefully, the other delegate, who named Easha and represented UK agreed to have a simulation before that with a funny topic first. I got no funny topic, easy to guess. So she made one, "Which one is better: White chocolate or Dark chocolate?" She got her turn first, and she defended White chocolate. I was like, "OMG, she already said so much, I would resay whatever she was saying, right?" But nope, I went for Dark chocolate, claiming that White chocolate contained milk and many people are allergic to milk, therefore promoting the use of White chocolate would be negative to the safety of the citizens. I was wondering what's the fun in debating, especially when you got a topic like this, but once everyone finished their speeches, I was taken aback, and I couldn't help laughing. It felt so great to say your ideas out loud, it felt so great to be understood, and it felt so great to listen to diverse ideas from other delegates. We went to main session, with Norway and UK supporting an international treaty on carbon neutrality. Then Russia jumped in and refuted everything we had just said, and France sitting on the fence. I was told to do a position paper (which is included as below). And I was like, "What is a position paper? How am I gonna do it? How can I finish it in just limited time?" I asked for a draft, and successfully made mine based on the draft that I received. It felt so great to draft a position paper too. I did the homework for my school during break time, and I spent a night researching Norway's stance on climate change, and other nations' as well. I had drafted a back-up evidence to support my speech during the next day.

Besides joining the debates and small games, we can also read new reported by the press. And it's super fun to do so. The press is there to exaggerate situations, and they gave me a good laugh by their whole-hearted memes.

Day 2: I missed the morning meetings due to classes. And when I asked for information about the progress of the morning debate, I was informed of a hand-trembling news, my committee got dissmissed due to lack of delegates, and I got reallocated to a new council named "Crisis". I was speechless, I did not know what to say. Honestly, what am I supposed to do? I had no idea, I had no choice. So, I am left with two choices: 1) back down and retreat due to scare, or 2) just go on and see what it will be like. I went with the second choice, I made my payment, so I'm not gonna waste that. Our chairman was John D Maddock, let us call him Jack. And I was assigned Ireland this time. We was working on 'China invading Taiwan' and I knew nothing about that. I had no time to research, so I sat on the fence this time. Jumping from anti-China to pro-China and to neutral. The discussion was heated, but I had no comment. I did not dare to voice up either, I observed everyone's conversation, and I had no knowledge so what could I do? Well, to be frank, I was frightened, shaking, and muting myself. I was surrounded by all Australians, they all delivered their speeches skillfully, they were experienced, and they had great accent. Would they judge me for my age? Would they judge me for my accent? Would they judge me for my silly speech if I were to open my mic and talk? I kept asking myself those silly questions. I chose to remain silent, being a loyal observer.

I experienced a culture shock here, the first meeting of the day was bound to happen at 7 (I checked the time zone difference also), but it was held at 6. I was like "Oh nooo, what happened with my time zone, is the schedule faulty, or sth else" And I knew that Sydney has daylight savings time, which mean the time zone in Sunday from October to April will be shifted by one hour earlier. Haizzz, so bad of me to not know that thing :(((

Day 3: I did my research of course, so I found myself confident enough to join in the discussion now. Seeing the appearance of the UK, I went for China-simp team, and it was so fun when you see the UK and Ireland, being so close geographically, argued on everything. I would go against everything UK said, and as UK teamed up the USA, France, India, and Vietnam, I chose to not make war and kept my relationship with everybody. The morning discussion was suspended, and we attended a guest speaking session, well this session was aimed mainly at Australians students, so I would make no comment. Then break and back to the last debate. This debate was supposed to be the last of all, and we had to draft and put forward a resolution, or everything would go to waste. First reso by France, vetoed, second reso by Kenya, vetoed, third reso by India, vetoed. And came the fourth reso by the UK. Well, there are reasons and circumstances for the three previous resolutions actually, but I would not spoil the fun and keep it confidential. In the last resolution, we tried our best to reach a mutual ground, and everyone would have a say on this. I went for a peace talk, that way it would not disrupt Ireland's trade with China, and preserve the relationship with US and the rest. So UK agreed to strike out the military deployment, and only use when ceasefire and peace talk is not reached. The reso finally got passed, but I'm not including it here since I'm not the proposer and access to intelligence should be kept limited. We really had a good fun, with Kenya and Niger being a big simp for China, Mexico regretted being a satellite country of China and changed their name to Piglet *inserted a lol meme*, the clause 12th stated that info about Mexico, and I could not believe when it got passed. I never thought that they would allow for this thing, such an exception. Everyone was so friendly towards me, and welcomed my ideas. I was so frightened at first, but now I felt so greatttt. Mixing up with other people is not a thing to written on a piece of paper, it's a thing to experience. And I would strongly recommend everyone to try it. Maybe my writing was bad, maybe my reflection was boring, maybe I did not reflect my emotions as intense as they were. But I'm sure the MUNC would be great. Honestly, an offline one would be much more wonderful, but I may not be able to attend due to lack of financial assistance. But if I can, I will, hehe. I'm not a great delegate, but I would be a bad delegate should I miss that opportunity. It's nice to see how diplomacy can solve a conflict, isn't it?

P/s: Well, there was an occasion what made me scared stiff. During the general speaker list, delegate for the UK raised his hand, and asked if he could yield his time to other delegates for them to speak. "OMG, what is happening here, I kept silent most of the discussion, I was so afraid to speak, and now this guy wanted to yield his time to 'other delegates for them to speak'. No, please Jack, don't accept this, please I am so scared" And thankfully Jack refused his offer. Maybe UK wasn't targeting me, but he really gave me a shock. Hearing his request, I tried to collect my confidence, and gave a speech. Well, it was not as bad as I thought, I expected to be rejected and then I would prove that I'm a bad speaker and have a right to be silent. However, all went well, I was welcomed, and it was like everyone was wanting me to speak up either. This feeling was so great and, should I say my thank you to the delegate of the UK? ^ ^

October 2021, Vietnam.