Assumption Worlds Round 2: This House Believes That Taiwan should declare its independence now.
Chair: Eoin Kilkenny (Independent)
Panelists: Yeah Hyun Kim (EiDis), Yash Divadkar (SMU)
WHAT WAS IN MY HEAD
Without a shadow of a doubt, this has to be the most poorly adjudicated round that my team was in. I agree with all the decisions that adjudicators have subjected my team save for this round. The major problem here is that the adjudicators allowed too much leeway for the Opening Government to define a totally absurd setup without logical premises to support the assumptions that they made. The team from Oxford simply assummed that all countries would recognize Taiwan because it’s the right thing to do. And the Closing Government had this absurd non-extension of the Olympics! Haha.
Based on what was said and the application of logical argumentation, I truly believe that we should’ve won this round. This round proved that even teams from Oxford can be beatable if you’re given an adjudicator who actually bothered to listen. We were made to lose this round for a contradiction that we never even said in any of our speeches. If it’s any consolation though, the speaker points were quite high for everyone except Keio C.
And yeah, Keio D’s Hitomi Nakamura was probably the hottest girl in the entire tournament. We kept saying hi to each other during the course of the competition because I’m friendly and she’s nice. Haha. Thank you Hitomi for noticing me for those few seconds.
THE DEBATE
Debaters who started competing earlier this decade would’ve been so used to debate on this archaic motion. The central issue here is the idea of self-determination/ autonomy vis-a-vis the diplomatic row that a declaration of independence would cause due to the One China Policy - ironically, we were the only team who even knew what the One China Policy was. Clearly, this mechanism in the status quo limits the likelihood of other countries recognizing Taiwan is very low.
My team’s extension was that a declaration of independence is a meaningless exercise of self-expression without much ramefications towards improving Taiwan’s relations with other countries. If anything, it exacerbates the relations between China and Taiwan and puts pressure on other countries to either favor Taiwan or the Mainland. Clearly, due to the powerful position of China in the world stage both politically and economically, no nation will pick Taiwan. Such a move would result to serious consequences for the countries involved. And since nations will choose to prioritize their national interest before those of others (i.e. Taiwan’s), Taiwan would only be left in the cold. Sure, they win in principle but they win alone.
My teammate and I were the only two people who had relevant matter in the issue and the adjudicator chose to look past this and simply awarded the win to the ‘obvious’ caucassian choice. Shame.
THE FATE OF THE OPPONENTS
Oxford Union B broke 14th in the competition with 20 points and 1451 speaker points. That’s funny because I consider Ateneo A, Ateneo B, UPD A and UPM A as superior teams compared to them. So there Jojo, an Oxford education doesn’t guarantee a good grasp of global politics. They totally sucked in our round.
NLSIU B finished with 15 points and 1367 speaker points - good for 132nd overall.
Keio C ended up with 7 points, 1161 speaker points. They wound up 377th in the competition.
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Aw! Sayang naman bro! Malas naman at nataon kayo sa poor adjudicator. Ahehehe! Anyway, wala bang pix ni Hitomi?!? “You’re friendly and she’s nice”. haha!
“My team’s extension was that a declaration of independence is a meaningless exercise of self-expression without much ramifications towards improving Taiwan’s relations with other countries. If anything, it exacerbates the relations between China and Taiwan and puts pressure on other countries to either favor Taiwan or the Mainland.”
(as the world did vis-a-vis israel/ oil states, especially during the six-day and yom kippur wars.)
“Clearly, due to the powerful position of China in the world stage both politically and economically, no nation will pick Taiwan.”
(not necessarily. the US does need taiwan as a base to maintain its presence, as exemplified by the “courtesy visits” of elements of their 7th fleet.)
“Such a move would result to serious consequences for the countries involved.”
(oops! not necessarily — take note that many countries — us included — have a diplomatic policy of non-alignment/ non-interference for as long as the countries in conflict are neither allies nor enemies of allies — which taiwan nor the PRC are. such policies ensure that these third-party countries will not be too affected; fact is, such countires can still trade with both simultaneously.)
“And since nations will choose to prioritize their national interest before those of others (i.e. Taiwan’s), Taiwan would only be left in the cold.”
(very defendable, well done — very appropriate quote for this would be henry kissinger’s “nation-states don’t have friends, they have interests).
“Sure, they win in principle but they win alone.”
(once more, the israel model. funny nga eh, taiwan has the advantage of not sharing a land border with the PRC, thus making invasion rather more difficult.)
anyway…
the extension is assailable (defendable, yes, but nonetheless assailable) if israel in the fifties, sixties, and seventies is brought up as an analogous model.
nonetheless — whatever the adjudicators said — fine job.
and may i add… yes, where are the photos of hitomi-chan and you? haha
[...] I was again lucky to have gotten such a wide open topic - my most unforgettable debate experience. Since my teammate was already there, I might as well talk about him and make him my punchline, right? haha. Aside from talking extensively about that particular time when he had to use the restroom in the middle of a round (of course, that never really happened), I also went on a barrage of otherwise-corny-jokes-but-they-worked jabs while reminiscing about that dastardly Taiwan debate. [...]
Well, first, just because Harvard or Oxford have the best education does not mean the universities are idiot-free. Same in UP, I would dare not claim all UP students are bright and the hope of our country. Neither does you experience nullify the quality of education that these universities offer.
Second, in the same way we are weak in socio-legal matters or European immigration debates, there are things other universities do not know. Your experience isn’t the first one. The Octos rounds of MMU worlds was on ASEAN Parliament. You have the Cambridge team who went to the finals arguing that an ASEAN Parliament will hinder China from joining ASEAN. On your issue of not winning, the Aussies in that specific round may have had gripes with their adjes too since the Cambridge team advanced. You are not that special don’t worry :p
“My team’s extension was that a declaration of independence is a meaningless exercise of self-expression without much ramifications [sic] towards improving Taiwan’s relations with other countries… Clearly, due to the powerful position of China in the world stage both politically and economically, no nation will pick Taiwan”
Wrong. Taiwan is more special than any other country. Surely the world TODAY knows that this island is one of the top exporters of industrial goods, has a development model that World Bank is flaunting in the 1980s, and a US-protected region.
Second, the world is not a zero-sum game. Surely you know global politics (from the word itself, not ‘international’ but ‘global’) has moved beyond the realist paradigm. So don’t be so sure everyone will agree as to how you see the debate. Debate is always about perception and subjectivity. You know that.
oh and wait, oxford education does guarantee something. you break in the worlds series. as you said, oxford b got 20 points.