The fourth summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA) was held in Shanghai on May 20 and 21. Nearly 40 countries and international organizations attended the meeting, the biggest of its kind since the establishment of the inter-governmental forum. During the summit, China was appointed with CICA presidency until 2016.

The CICA was first proposed by Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev on October 5, 1992, at the 47th Session of the United Nations General Assembly under the aim of ensuring peace, security and stability in Asia through mutual cooperation. At the time, Kazakhstan had just taken steps toward national independent development despite significant social and economic hurdles. During his country’s complex stage of social transition, Nazarbayev viewed the establishment of an effective security mechanism involving multiple states as a positive step forward for the region.

The initiative was widely endorsed by Asian countries, including China, and various international organizations. Currently, the CICA has 26 member states, including China, Russia, Turkey and Iran, and over 10 observer states and organizations. The collective territory of CICA member states covers more than 40 million square kilometers, accounting for over 90 percent of the total area of Asia and some 3 billion people, or nearly half the world’s population. Despite member states’ different cultures, religions, political beliefs, social models and development paths, the bloc engages in extensive cooperation and constructive dialogue over regional and global issues. CICA member states are committed to safeguarding regional security and stability, which not only conforms to people’s interests in the region but also contributes to advancing peaceful, steady, fair and reasonable new international political and economic orders.

Over the course of its 20 years of unremitting efforts, the CICA has gradually expanded its influence and become an important multilateral diplomatic stage for discussing Asia’s security cooperation. The CICA has fostered commitment to the construction of a regional security mechanism, playing a unique role in safeguarding regional security and stability. It has provided a platform of mutual tolerance, healthy competition and win-win cooperation for various Asian countries.

The bloc is committed to promoting the economic integration of Asian countries, giving play to the region’s economic potential and endogenous power. In its role as president of the CICA, China should seriously treat the initiatives and appeals of other countries provided they conform to the generally accepted norms of international relations and contribute to peace, development and regional stability.

Asia has thriving economies and the world’s biggest population by density, but it is also one of the world’s most unstable regions. Challenges including illegal immigration, ecological crises, drug smuggling and terrorism still prevail in Asia, threatening regional security and stability. The regional security situation is precarious amid Washington’s pivot to the Asia-Pacific, the uncertain future in Afghanistan after US forces’ withdrawal and rampant rise of Japanese militarism. All these factors have made the regional situation more fragile and unstable. The ongoing political crisis in Ukraine has also had a subtle impact on Asia’s security and stability.

Asia’s diverse civilizations, complex relations between countries and great powers’ interference have made it difficult for Western-style security blocs, such as the North Atlantic Treaty Association and Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, to form in the region. With its increasingly robust national strength, China as a responsible great power should bear its obligations in international affairs. China can therefore make full use of its CICA presidency by actively initiating Asia’s comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security principle and setting up a new framework for regional security and cooperation in pursuit of a cooperative and win-win path.

China advocates multiple neighboring diplomatic policies and is committed to the construction of a regional security mechanism, which corresponds to the goals of the CICA and also contributes to Asia’s development and prosperity.

The author is from the Institute of Russian, Eastern European and Central Asian Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.　

The Chinese version appeared in Chinese Social Sciences Today No.599， May 23， 2014.

Chinese link: http://www.csstoday.net/xueshuzixun/guoneixinwen/89678.html

Translated by Yu Hui

Revised by Tom Fearon