Learning the art of diplomacy

Visiting Suzhou for the first time, 13-year-old Luo Shiqi was impressed by the city's hospitality and quickly made friends with young delegates from different schools and countries.

The Italian-Chinese student from Varese Chinese Language School in Italy was in the city to take part in a four-day Model United Nations conference, where students assumed the roles of national representatives and debated global challenges.

Held from July 31 to Aug 3 in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, the 2026 China Daily Model United Nations (CDMUN) brought together teachers and student representatives from nearly 100 schools in China and overseas.

The agenda covered four broad areas: global governance, governance of emerging issues, regional affairs and international communication. Through simulations of international organizations, participants examined global challenges from the perspectives of the countries they represented.

Inside the meeting rooms, country placards rose above tables as delegates leaned toward microphones to debate regional conflicts, the global energy transition and humanitarian crises.

Representing Canada on a simulated United Nations Development Programme committee, Luo said the discussions changed how she viewed the challenges countries face when pursuing shared goals.

"Listening to different voices helped me become more open-minded," she said. "Sometimes a country cannot achieve a goal not because it lacks the will, but because it lacks the resources, technology or financial capacity."

Liu Biwei, former vice-president of the China Public Diplomacy Association, said Model UN gives young people a valuable opportunity to gain firsthand insight into international organizations and global affairs.

"The simulations also helped young people develop communication skills, deepen mutual understanding and learn to cooperate," Liu said.

For some participants, the conference offered a deeper look at the competing interests that shape international negotiations.

Lu Dikai, a 21-year-old international relations major at Dalian University of Foreign Languages in Liaoning province, served as a journalist with the CDMUN media center. He reported on discussions about the Cyprus crisis of 1974 and the conflict in Sudan.

Through those discussions, he observed that humanitarian concerns in contemporary regional conflicts are often politicized, while multilateral processes are sidelined.

"Major powers tend to prioritize their own geopolitical interests," Lu said. "Humanitarian operations that should focus solely on protecting civilians can easily become instruments of geopolitical competition."

In his view, addressing such challenges requires an approach grounded in multilateralism, fairness and justice.

"Transnational issues cannot be solved by one or a few nations alone," he said. "Only through equal consultation and listening to diverse voices can we build a sustainable global governance framework."

The simulations also gave Lu a more practical understanding of diplomacy, which he described as a continual process of adjustment and compromise. "Unexpected developments can arise at any point in a meeting," he said.

"Rather than simply confronting one another, delegates must quickly reassess their national interests and adjust their negotiating positions. The challenge is to find the broadest possible common ground without compromising their core interests."

The question of balancing national priorities and the common good also emerged in discussions on environmental cooperation.

Zhou Tuoyi, a 20-year-old international relations student at the London School of Economics and Political Science, served on the academic team for the United Nations Economic and Social Council.

During the conference, Zhou helped guide discussions on the sustainable management of transboundary water resources in the Aral Sea Basin, where decades of environmental degradation have exposed the limits of existing international mechanisms.

"When countries compete over natural resources, pursuing individual national interests can produce collectively irrational outcomes," he said. "That's a dilemma worth debating."

He believes effective international cooperation requires countries to consider the human consequences of their decisions.

"Empathy is what drives us to address problems that affect millions of lives," Zhou said. "If countries focus only on their own interests, social and humanitarian needs can easily be overlooked."

Attending the conference for the third time, Zhou said he had watched young delegates grow throughout the event.

"Many delegates arrive as hesitant participants but leave as confident speakers," Zhou said. "More importantly, they begin to understand that addressing long-standing global crises requires not only negotiation, but also genuine empathy."

For Luo, that learning process meant recognizing why a country might struggle to meet an international goal. For Lu, it meant understanding how geopolitical interests and unequal national capacities can complicate international cooperation.

The experience also reinforced Lu's belief that understanding international affairs requires a strong grounding in history.

He advised young people interested in diplomacy to build that foundation before delving into international relations theory.

"History is the bedrock of international politics," he said. "Young people must think independently, build their knowledge over time and avoid being influenced by one-sided opinions."

Wang Benchuang contributed to this story.

guojiatong@i21st.cn