Annual Model UN Simulation

  On Wednesday, April 18^th 2018, students from PSC 121: International Relations participated in a Model UN Simulation as part of Daemen's annual Academic Festival. Students represented various states in meeting of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC)  held to discuss the ongoing territorial disputes in the South China Sea and vote on the proposed resolution. The countries involved in this simulation were Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, as well as the permanent members of the UNSC (China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom(UK), and the United States of America (US)).

 Each country gave a short speech introducing their positions on the issue. The states that had the most to say were China, Indonesia, and the Philippines. China reinforced their claims to the nine-dash line and claimed that the water was “historically” their property noting that several other nations recognized the nine-dash line as valid. Indonesia was the main opponent to China, in that they were disputing the validity of the nine-dash-line as well as China’s claims to the entire region; they were of course backed by the United States as well as the United Kingdom. Indonesia strongly disagreed with China’s “historical” claims to the water, and asserted their rights and sovereignty over the waters in their Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). The Philippines delivered a powerful speech as well about negotiating and signing a bilateral treaty with China, and they encouraged other countries (Malaysia, Indonesia, and Japan) to do so as well. The Philippines and China both claimed that their treaty was mutually beneficial, with joint security guarantees from both countries. 

After all the countries delivered their positions on the territorial disputes in the South China Sea, the moderators conducted an open debate; the question that generated the most controversy was “Do any countries have the claim or desire to expand their territory in the South China Sea?”. The Philippines found this question particularly offensive as did China, this resulted in strained arguments among the states creating a tensed and chaotic atmosphere. Another point of note was that China claimed that the nine-dash line and the Law of the Sea were not mutually exclusive agreements and said that they were willing to create treaties with any country that approached them. 

 At the end of the debate the resolution was introduced and each state cast their vote: only two of the eight states voted for the resolution (Indonesia and Russia), one state abstained from the vote (Japan), the rest of the states adamantly voted against the resolution. No amendments were added to the resolution at any point. The moderator and the USG worked hard to synthesize all position papers and create a balanced resolution that would be appealing to all states involved. The main points of the resolution were as follows:

1.   Demands, that any and all nations halt military or other  aggressions towards one another in a timely fashion, this includes intervention by the USA, UK, France and Russia.

2.    Endorses the renaming of the area known as the South China Sea, that it gives the false impression that China is entitled to the area. 

3. Encourages all states to immediately halt their all activities in the area, and acknowledge what they have and what all countries already have. It is also advisable that no state continues with their intentions to build any other islands and enact efforts to preserve the remaining wildlife reefs.

4.     Encourages  a spirit of cooperation between all states with stake in the sea, as laid out in United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) Treaty,  to sign a treaty acknowledging each other state's claim to the area as well as indicating they will allow  free and open trade in the area.

5.   Demands, China to denounces the nine-dash line, in exchange they may keep the islands created and  claim the law of the sea from those areas (200 miles off the coast).

6.  Proposes, that any and all nations that lay similar claims to Similar Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ) under the UNCLOS Treaty work out additional treaties with each other that are both fair and righteous to both states.

7.     Advocate Support for these treaties, if needed, to be supervised and overseen by a third party (state, NGO, or IGO) with no direct benefit from either state control of more of the EEZ then the other.

8.    Proposes treaty designed to allow shared fishing territories and resources throughout the region, if so desired by state, with predetermined compensation.

Representative from France presenting their position

Speech by the representative of Indonesia

Speech from the representative of Malaysia

Moderator introducing the simulation

Team representing the Phillippines

Speech by Russia

Debate

Debate

Speech by US representative

  Students were particularly excited at having the opportunity to engage in experiential learning. They conducted several weeks of in-depth research on their assigned states and roles before the showcase. While all teams performed enthusiastically, students in the class voted to award the best performance to Team China and Team France/ UK for their outstanding knowledge and performance. A special mention to the Philippines and Indonesia who also received several votes and were runners-up for the best performance award.

Blog post by Kaitlin Kinkade (Served as Moderator in the Model UN Simulation) and Dr. Aakriti Tandon