The Yale Model United Nations Taiwan conference took place from March 16-18 at the Sunworld Dynasty Hotel. The attendees from TAS included Annabel Chang (‘20), Brian Lain (‘21), Dokyong Ryoo (‘21), Dylan Sun (‘20), Eming Shyu (‘21), Rachel Su and Sabrina Kan (‘21). Eming received the Best Delegate award for Security Council while Brian received an honorable mention in the United Nations Human Rights Committee.
While Taipei American School does not formally include YMUNT as part of the MUN program here, delegates are encouraged to sign up and prepare for the conference themselves. “Although we didn’t have any formal practices, I still came into the conference pretty well prepared. I guess formal MUN practices really nailed the practice of thoroughly researching a topic into me,” says Rachel.
YMUNT differs from other conferences attended by TAS students as it follows the North American Procedure instead of the THIMUN procedure typical across Asia and Europe. Brian says, “The North American Procedure emphasizes each countries’ view on different aspects of the topic, as delegates will have to do in-depth speeches on these different aspects. On the other hand, THIMUN procedures places a greater emphasis in the area of discussing on solutions proposed instead of the topic.” Rachel says, “One of the main differences was the lack of Points of Information [questions which delegates raise in response to speeches] which I’ve noticed can prove detrimental to newer delegates that have trouble amassing the confidence for speeches.”
Still, the delegates enjoyed meeting new friends at the conference, who often came from different backgrounds. “The people I met at this conference were generally the nicest out of all the conferences I’ve been to,” says Brian, adding that it was also interesting to discuss cultural and educational differences with other delegates at the conference.