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April 30, 2014

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Asian forum to build trust and stability

EDITOR’S note:

Delegations from nearly 40 countries and international organizations will attend the summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) in Shanghai this May, when China will take over chairmanship from Turkey (2010-2014).

The idea of convening the CICA was first proposed by Nursultan Nazarbayev, president of Kazakhstan, in 1992. The moving spirit behind this initiative was the aspiration to set up an efficient and acceptable structure for ensuring peace and security in Asia. Sixteen Asian states joined the CICA at its inception. Presently CICA has 24 member states accounting for nearly 90 percent of the territory and population of Asia. Eight countries and four multinational organizations, including the United Nations, have observer status. The following are excerpts from Wei Xing’s exclusive interview with Ambassador Çinar Aldemir, executive director of Secretariat of the CICA.

Question: What is the main subject of the CICA Shanghai summit?

Answer: Today, fundamental shifts are under way in the global distribution of economic and political power. With its rising military, economic and political clout, Asia is playing an increasingly important role in the world community.

At the same time, Asia is facing numerous security challenges that threaten peace and stability in the continent. There are also cultural, ethnic, religious and historical differences to overcome.

At the Shanghai Summit, Asian leaders will discuss how to address these common challenges through dialogue and cooperation in various spheres, most notably through implementation of confidence-building measures, with a view to creating an indivisible area of security in Asia, where all states co-exist peacefully and their peoples live in conditions of peace, freedom and prosperity.

Q: What is your expectation about the summit’s achievement?

A: It is expected that efforts of CICA to achieve peace, prosperity and security in Asia will be further strengthened at the Shanghai summit.

It is expected that member states will act in the Asian spirit of solidarity, interaction and unity; make joint efforts to ensure shared security, common development and prosperity; safeguard international justice; and build a comprehensive and indivisible security environment.

Q: It is said that the summit will release the Shanghai Declaration. Can you tell our readers something about the declaration?

A: The draft declaration is still under consideration.

It is expected that the declaration will reflect the collective will of the member states to address the contemporary issues faced by Asia and their common views on international situation, as well as their common positions on resolving issues of concern.

Q: What role do you think China can play as the new chairman?

A: We are sure that China will work closely with the previous CICA chairmans of Kazakhstan and Turkey as well as with all the CICA member states to achieve the main objective and thrust of the CICA to enhance cooperation through elaborating on multilateral approaches towards promoting peace, security and stability in Asia.

It is expected that China will seek to promote a new Asian security concept through the medium of CICA, which will aim at seeking common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security and build an open, transparent and equal Asian security and cooperation structure based on mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality and cooperation.

Q: Do you think it is urgent to turn CICA from a forum to a formal international organization?

A: It may be mentioned that even though CICA is still known as a forum, it already has all the necessary structures of an international organization.

President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan has already suggested that CICA should formally acquire the status of an international organization.

We are, therefore, hopeful that in due course of time, CICA will evolve into an international organization.

Q: CICA’s main objective is to move gradually towards a unified Asian collective security structure. CICA aims to achieve this objective through implementing confidence-building measures in five areas. Could you elaborate on this?

A: The CICA Catalogue of confidence-building measures (CBMs) was adopted by the ministers of foreign affairs at their second meeting in Almaty in October 2004. It was the first time that such a comprehensive document on CBMs was adopted in the Asian continent.

In a traditional sense, CBMs are understood as the measures taken by the states to reduce fear and suspicion among one another and/or reduce the fear of war. CICA CBMs, however, go beyond the traditional concepts. The leaders of the CICA member states recognized that in the increasingly interconnected and inter-dependent world of the 21st century, socioeconomic CBMs were as important as political-military CBMs.

The CICA Catalogue, therefore, laid down five areas for realization of CBMs: (i) military-political dimension; (ii) fight against new challenges and threats; (iii) economic dimension; (iv) environmental dimension; and (v) human dimension.

Q: What is the main difference between CICA and other Asian security organizations, such as SCO and ASEAN.

A: While CICA shares basic objectives with other Asian security organizations, the main difference is that while other organizations are regional or sub-regional in character, CICA is a pan-Asian body. CICA is the only structure of its kind that covers the entire continent of Asia. Even those countries that have only a part of their territory in Asia are members of CICA.




 

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