Work Together to Build a Safer Asia

By Han Fangming,Vice Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee,CPPCC,

Member of China Committee on Religion and Peace,and Chairman of the Charhar Institute

Asia,which means“the place where the sun rises”,is a name given by westerners.It is known as a region characterized by long history,big population,cultural diversity,and complex political and economic systems.Under the impact of the Western world,the modern times witnesses Asian countries experience the suffering of foreign invasion and colonialism,and win their national impendence after long and arduous struggles.However,since the end of the WW Ⅱ Asian countries,while boasting rapid economic development,have dragged their feet in security cooperation.With major natural disasters such as hurricane,flood,earthquake and tsunami striking from time to time in recent years,Asia has not only become a community of shared interests with countries intertwined with and interdependent on each other,but also a community of common destiny that are bound together for good or ill and face increasing common security challenges.

However,security in Asia till now basically relies on self-reliant system built up by countries on their own.With doubts and misgivings prevailing,Asian countries still have to resort to their self-relief systems when extraordinary calamities happen.However,numerous international incidents have proved that a country cannot deal with its security problems alone even if it is armed to the teeth.Cases like 9/11,Ukraine Crisis and Syria conflicts show that a new era has come upon us.Asian security calls for a common security architecture to keep out the wind and rain,and ensure Asian people plain sailing.Looking around the Asian-Pacific region,we would find that no country can escape the scourge of turbulence if it is located in a hot spot region,Korean Peninsula,East and South China Sea,Afghanistan,and Middle East,to give just a few examples.Common,comprehensive,cooperative and sustainable security in Asia has become a historical task facing all Asian governments and peoples,and a powerful trend throughout the world.

Guided by its basic state policy of Reform and Opening-up for decades,China has occupied itself with economic development and managed to greatly uplift its economic power and comprehensive strength.With increasing international influence,China has put more and more emphasis to provide security public products to the international community,especially its Asian neighbors.It has been actively fulfilling international obligations,advocating a new security concept featuring comprehensive,common and cooperative security and committed to promoting the establishment of a new regional security architecture.On 21stMay,2014,President Xi Jinping proposed at the Fourth Summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia that“it is necessary to advocate common,comprehensive,cooperative and sustainable security in Asia.We need to innovate our security concept,establish a new regional security cooperation architecture,and jointly build a road for security of Asia that is shared by and win-win to all.”The core of this Asian security concept is to govern security issues so as to build long-term peace and order in Asia.

To build a safer Asia,I would like to make the following observations:

First,establish a common security system in Asia.Asian security is shared by all across the region,and an important part of global security.Therefore,it is important to change from passive maintenance of security into active pursuit of security.Countries must break their traditional antagonistic pattern of thinking,and pool their strength to build a common security system.A communication platform that ensures information-sharing,resource complementation,and coordinated and consistent communication is needed to coordinate security actions by various countries so as to increase the speed and efficiency of relief efforts.

Second,establish a comprehensive security early warning mechanism.Asian security is comprehensive,a complexity of both conventional and non-conventional security.Various parties in the region must strengthen non-conventional security cooperation while maintaining their conventional security cooperation,consulting each other to build a mutual-help mechanism of disaster pre-warning,emergency rescue and relief,and post-disaster reconstruction to minimize impacts of natural disasters and enhancing protection of people’s life and properties.Countries must strengthen in-depth cooperation in risk management of meteorological disasters with regional division,risk forecast and impact evaluation as its focus.Exchanges and cooperation to prevent meteorological disasters at grassroots level must be strengthened,with establishment and development of community-driven disaster prevention and reduction model and early-warning information release methods at grassroots level as the priority.Meteorological information must be shared timely.

Third,establish a cooperative security dialogue mechanism.To ensure security for any country in Asia,not only national security,but more importantly security of all countries in the surrounding region needs to be emphasized.Countries need to make concerted efforts to deal with a certain security issue,join hands to address security threats and eliminate hidden hazards.Relevant countries need to establish a mechanism for regular high-level dialogue and frequent diplomatic contacts to deepen regional disaster prevention and reduction cooperation.Extensive and in-depth dialogue and consultation can sweep away political obstacles and take regional security cooperation further.

Fourth,establish a sustainable security mutual-assistance mechanism.Development is the foundation of security,while better security is the aim of security.Only when security and development are combined,can there be strong guarantee for security.With the promotion of regional integrity,Asian economic system has increasingly become an organism.Closely interconnected infrastructure,management institutions,information network and social norms can serve as strong guarantee for common development of Asian economy,which is the foundation for Asian development and the aim for Asian security.

Fifth,strengthen peace education and integrate it into formal education system at various levels.Peace is humanity’s lofty ideal.It is not only a theoretical concept,but a systematic science with practical significance.Born in 1950s,Peace Studies as a systematic discipline was not introduced to China until the beginning of 21stcentury,so it is not a familiar concept for most Chinese.While many other countries like United States,Japan,RO Korea,and some European states have established systematic peace education,provided Peace Studies courses and set up Research Centers for Peace Studies in institutes of higher learning,China is still in an initial stage to carry out Peace Studies research and education.However,the last decade has seen Peace Studies emerge in universities all around China,and specialized Peace Studies courses win positive response from university students.Peace education should not be confined to institutes of high learning,can play a bigger role and attain better effects among teenagers whose values are yet to take shape.Therefore,on the basis of existing Peace Studies in colleges and universities,we need to extend the education to middle and primary schools,set up peace education courses tailored to suit pupils,so that peace education start from our children.The next generation who is currently in schools will be the driving force for future peace-building in China,Asia and the world at large.Only when they are educated on peace,hold peace dear to their hearts,and learn methods to deal with conflicts at a young age,will they understand better“Right of Peoples to Peace”and how to create a“more peaceful Asia”.It is fair to say that a big hope for peace lies in peace education.

In conclusion,security in Asia needs concerted efforts of Asian people.I hope that we can join hands to build a safer Asia together.