by Christian Schoppmeyer /
OIC Campus Reporter

NCCU's annual Taipei Model United Nations Conference (TMUN) was being held for the 13th time during the weekend of May 18 to 20. Given its long tradition and high quality, the event hosted by NCCU's Youth Association of International Conferences (YAIC) is regarded as one of the most prestigious MUN conferences on the island. Three conference rooms in NCCU's Administration Building had thus been filled with university and high school students from all over Taiwan. Most notably, this year TMUN had even received delegations travelling all the way from Singapore to attend the event.

Model United Nations are professional simulations of the actual United Nations. Thereby students are being assigned to represent a country and the nation's respective interests in the committee. TMUN 2018 offered three committee choices and enabled its participants to discuss topics ranging from protection of the rights of migrant workers (United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific), the situation in the Central African Republic (Security Council), and the combat of the threat of Non-State Actors (General Assembly First Committee).

Besides political debate, international as well as local students from across Taiwan were able to engage in interactions with one another. According to the Vice President of YAIC, “MUN conferences can help participants to improve their public speaking, negotiation, and English skills, while one simultaneously also learns how to cooperate and form alliances with others.” Apart from the opportunity to join TMUN next year, NCCU's YAIC provides weekly club sessions every Thursday from 7pm to 9pm (General Building, Room 416) for everyone who is interested in leaving their fear of public speaking behind.

Under the guidance of YAIC's Faculty Advisor Professor Ping-Kuei Chen (陳秉逵, Department of Diplomacy), TMUN is not only beneficial to students regarding their academics, but also serves as a perfect platform to get to know like-minded people from different universities. Furthermore, TMUN is renowned for its remarkable panelists, who frequently inspire the conference participants. Speakers in the past include, among others, former President of the Republic of China (Taiwan), Mr. Ma Ying-Jeou (馬英九). This time round, Taiwan Representative Tung Kuo-Yu (董國猷) visited the delegates and used the opportunity to share his impressive experience working at a variety of different intergovernmental organizations.

While the conference days brought intensive discussions, TMUNers were able to relax and reach out to other delegates during the organized social events, ultimately, representing a great mixture of learning how to voice out one's opinions regarding current global issues on the one hand, and forming friendships with people from different backgrounds on the other.