xinhua 

Heads of state and delegations for the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in
Asia (CICA) arrive at the welcome banquet hosted by Chinese President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan. The banquet took place at the Shanghai International Conference Centre on Tuesday evening (May 20).

 

The Fourth Summit of the Confer­ence on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) was held in Shanghai on May 20-21. Established in 1992, CICA is a multi-national forum on Asian security aimed at establishing an effective and comprehensive security mecha­nism in Asia through dialogs and cooperation among member states so as to promote regional peace, se­curity and stability.

 

Asia is the region with the world’s most dynamic economies and one of the most complicated security situations. Han Feng, vice director of the Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sci­ences, observed that for many Asian nations, the process of state-building coincided with western colonization. This led to low awareness of how to develop national security, with some countries altogether deprived of security as part of their coloniza­tion. Common problems to all Asian nations, such as economic security, natural disaster relief, and combating epidemic disease, added urgency to expanding cooperation on regional se­curity from the field of traditional mili­tary security to non-traditional areas. Today, higher-level rebalancing among the present great powers makes this an even more prominent issue.

 

Asian consciousnesses

In recent years, Asian nations have collaborated in law enforcement, cracking down on crime, disaster relief, and combating epidemic dis­ease. They have actively conducted military exchanges. “Asian countries have laid a good foundation for se­curity cooperation and are jointly pushing it forward,” said Wu Xinbo.

 

“The integrated development of the economy and culture is indis­pensible to maintaining security,” expressed Pan Guang, director of the Shanghai Center for International Studies and the Institute of Euro­pean and Asian Studies at the Shang­hai Academy of Social Sciences. Pan maintains that economic and cultural development is the basis for addressing the issue of security, stressing that “Silk Road economic belt”, “Maritime Silk Road of the 21st century” and other strategic con­cepts advocated by China provide direction for the construction of an Asian security system. Pan also not­ed that security issues can arise from culture clashes, amplifying the need for enhancing cultural cooperation and dialog between countries in or­der to deal with security threats such as terrorism and regional tensions. “We should combine security coop­eration with economic and cultural cooperation in pursuing a holistic approach and addressing both the symptoms and root causes of issues.”

 

Confidence building

For Wu Xinbo, “The greatest chal­lenge in constructing an Asia secu­rity mechanism is the confidence of Asian nations.” Wu believes that Asian nations need to build confidence to resolve their own security issues through regional cooperation rather than depend on major powers outside the region to provide security. In his view, the economic successes of East Asia have galvanized an “Asian con­sciousness”. First, the take-off of the Four Asian Tigers boosted the confidence of Asian nations, while China’s rise revitalized regional consciousness. Still, Wu observed that even as their economic coop­eration intensifies, Asian nations are gradually becoming aware that developing the economy alone is not enough to tackle security challenges. He stressed the need to further enhance and highlight Asian consciousness and increase confidence, independence and the ability to act.

 

CICA’s aim is to promote peace, security and stability in Asia by working on multilateral confidence building measures and strengthening dialog and co­operation. At present, confidence building measures have been formulated in five dimensions, including military and politi­cal, new threats and challenges, economic, environmental, and human dimensions. “It’s the right time for Asia to construct a secu­rity mechanism,” Wu Xinbo com­mented. However, CICA has not yet developed into a systematized operational platform for regional security cooperation. The Summit therefore offers a good opportu­nity to promote the construction of an Asian security mechanism.

 

Articulating a vision of this mechanism in the face of Asia’s regional security challenges, Feng Shaolei, dean of the School of Advanced International and Area Studies at East China Normal University, urged Asian nations to assess the security situation in Asia and other places around the world and make clear principles and positions. This will enable them to manifest the political will and bring together each nation’s determination to maintain stabil­ity and peace, he said. Feng also recommends starting from non-traditional security to advance various facets of cooperation and using a gradual approach to raise the overall level of Asian security cooperation.

 

Feng Shaolei commented that the Summit not only mitigates sensitive geopolitical conflicts but also provides an opportu­nity for neighboring countries to discuss and negotiate po­tential improvements in bor­der security. It also furthers exchanges between Asian and European security organiza­tions, helping to push forward cooperative initiatives in the non-traditional fields such as anti-terrorism and collabora­tive assistance.

 

“China is willing and able to push the development of CICA to a new stage”, said Wu Xinbo. Reflecting that China’s rise gave a decisive thrust to solidify­ing Asian consciousness, Wu believes China deserves praise for boosting the independence of Asia’s regional security, and its confidence in itself. China should energize CICA’s opera­tion, using its overall strength and international influence to articulate new concepts for CICA’s agenda.

 

The Chinese version appeared in Chinese Social Sciences Today, No. 598, May 21, 2014

 

Translated by Ren Jingyun
                                                                                                                                             Revised by Charles Horne

 

The Chinese Link:

http://www.csstoday.net/xueshuzixun/guoneixinwen/89647.html