China's platform for 'Asian century'

The three months leading to the 4th Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia, or CICA, were marked by a spate of terrorist attacks in several Chinese cities. The conference, therefore, has assumed greater significance. Besides, it is the first major international event to be hosted by China under President Xi Jinping's leadership. As Xi takes over the chairmanship of CICA, the largest regional forum in Asia, he is expected to showcase China's vision for the "Asian century". The conference will also see Xi elucidating on his Chinese Dream and Silk Road frameworks in the larger context of regional security and development paradigm.

China's financial capital of Shanghai is hosting 11 heads of state, two heads of government and 10 chiefs of international organizations, including UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, during the conference from May 20 to 21. Since Russian President Vladimir Putin, Iranian President Hasan Rouhani and Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev, who first proposed the idea of CICA at the 47th UN General Assembly in 1992, are paying state visits to China apart from attending the conference, this is a logistically challenging week for Chinese leaders, bureaucrats, diplomatic corps and security forces.

The recent terrorist attacks have prompted Chinese authorities to transform Beijing and Shanghai into the most "secure" cities in China, a fact unlikely to be lost upon the visiting leaders from countries that have also been suffering from the growing menace of terrorism. This is likely to make terrorism the underlying theme at the meetings on the sidelines of the conference, if not on its formal agenda, especially because CICA sees dialogue, development and transparency - as opposed to military might - as the means to ensuring security.

In his original proposal for CICA, Nazarbayev underlined the urgent need for setting up a "pan-Asian" forum to enable Asian countries to deal with their post-Cold War security challenges. CICA today includes 24 member states and 13 observer countries and organizations covering much of Asia's landmass and people, including those from central, southeast and south Asia, as well as the Middle East.

What makes CICA unique regional forum is the wide mixture of cultures, religions, nationalities and nations of varying sizes and development trajectories. Keeping with this reality, the theme of the 4th CICA is "On Enhancing Dialogue, Trust and Coordination for a New Asia of Peace, Stability and Cooperation", which is also in line with China's priorities.

CICA has traditionally pursued a policy of non-interference in the internal affairs of member states and focused on developing economic, social and cultural cooperation to maintain security.

The conference is also set to achieve a lot on the sidelines. Xi and Putin are meeting for the second time this year and are likely to sign about 30 documents, including a massive 30-year deal between Gazprom and China National Petroleum Corporation under which the Russian company will supply China 38 billion cubic metres of natural gas a year from 2018. Similarly, the Iranian president's meetings with Xi and Putin are very important because they will meet in the backdrop of the continued stalemate over the six-nation talks on Teheran's nuclear enrichment capability.

Ban Ki-moon's presence at the conference highlights the need to focus on the climate change summit scheduled for late September in New York, especially the critical role that China could play in combating climate change.

Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain may highlight to the Chinese leaders the need to strengthen Sino-Pak strategic ties, especially their old proposals of creating an economic corridor from the Pakistani port city of Gwadar to China. India, however, is not represented by its top leader at the conference, because it has just elected a new government. Yet given prime minister-elect Narendra Modi's views on China, the new Indian government is sure to watch the CICA developments closely.

China's successful steering of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization makes it an ideal candidate to further develop CICA under its leadership. The rising number of terrorist attacks in China will prompt Beijing to highlight the threats terrorism poses to countries in general. And since the very first CICA adopted the Declaration on Eliminating Terrorism and Promoting Dialogue Among Civilizations and formed the conference's secretariat in Almaty, Kazakhstan, China is now expected to further build on it.

The author is professor for diplomacy and disarmament at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.