Security Council

by Brian Ruth

The bloc alignments established in Day 1 held as the UNSC remained split, with regional states coalescing around the larger, veto powers on the council. The committee was set to eventually discard two draft resolutions along bloc lines, finally settling on a joint accord assembled from the previous defeats in order to save the afternoon.

With China claiming its power to keep peace was stripped in clause five of the first draft, the delegate stated that at the least, China should manage the agreement called out for in clause six – a resource-protection management scheme calling for U.N. oversight of a newly established body.

Clause five of the draft called for China to withdraw its veto rights on matters ion the South China Sea. A measure the U.S. delegate assured China of ‘no action’ unless less-power states in the area were under threat; the U.S. was amicable to amending the clause.

While the Russian delegate asked if the U.S. thought the clause was just a snub to China, Iran called a for a point if information:

“Would the U.S. withdraw its veto power here also?” Iran asked.

The stalemate over the clause continued, eventually pulling the previous clause into the fray--the clause required punitive asset freezes for violations of a UN/ICJ activity review proposed in a sub-clause. And in the breakout rooms to follow, there was consensus among the states seated in either room, with China and Russia confirming their points against the measure.

In the committee vote, clause five was retained. Final debate on the first draft saw China pushing to expand sovereignty 30 nautical miles from coastal baselines in order to uphold safe-passage measures under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

China insisted the expansion of their own EEZ helped ensure safer trade for the entire region. However, the entire draft was eliminated shortly after the lunch break by the combined veto of Russia and China. A second draft called for greater participation of Russia in arbitrating dispute in the region.

With that, the German delegate asserted the transnational clash in the South China Sea rested in China’s illegal claims on the area through artificial island construction. The Chinese delegate maintained the construction surrounding the Spratly Islands helped to settle the region for safer trade.

As the lines were drawn quite deep by the afternoon, with a western/eastern bloc affectation among the delegates, UNSC chairs began to deny motions to present further. After a short breakout for council members to make their final statements, the U.S. delegate was prepared to take its bloc through striking each individual clause supported by Russia and China, eventually garnering the defeat of the entire second draft.

With less than two hours remaining in Day 2, the delegation of Egypt entered the negotiations and advocated for combining the two measures already tossed in-the-bin into a joint resolution on Topic A. This third draft was a ‘vote-able’ product which placated China in regard to loss of veto leverage in the council.

The delegate from Singapore--in yet another example of bipartisanship--urged the removal of U.S. teeth from oversight surrounding the Spratly Islands. In the end, China remained bound to the 12n/m standard in the joint draft, with Russia losing possible influence proposed in the previous drafts.

The joint resolution passed in full unanimity with 30 minutes remaining to hear openers on Topic B. However, delegates from Israel and Palestine were not present, forcing chairs to table the session and close the council.