SPEECH BY HE DR. KANAT SAUDABAEV AT THE RIIA,
CHATHAM HOUSE, TUESDAY 21 OCTOBER 1997
KAZAKHSTAN: REGIONAL SECURITY AND THE
WIDER SECURITY POLICY AGENDA
Your Excellencies!
Ladies and Gentlemen!
First of all, allow me to greet you and to extend my gratitude for your interest in today's discussion.
KAZAKHSTAN AND INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY
It is symbolical that our meeting takes place on the eve of 6th anniversary of Kazakhstan's independence. On October 10 of this year, President N.Nazarbayev has presented the people of the republic with the statement 'Kazakhstan-2030: prosperity, security and improving wealth of the people of Kazakhstan'. This statement is the strategy of development of our sovereign state during the stated period.
Summing up the results of six years, President has underlined that Kazakhstan has survived as an independent state in the most difficult conditions of the transitional period. The republic has become widely known in the world as a state voluntarily given up its nuclear weapon, adherent to the democratic values and market economy and keen to contribute to the regional and global security.
During these years we have created the political, economic, social and, if you like, psychological grounds for these irreversible processes. All this has become possible primarily due to the political stability, inter-ethnic harmony in the country and to the external security. The President described these values as the main priorities in the 'Kazakhstan-2030' strategy.
However, six years ago there was much less certainty in the future. Having embarked on the course of political and market reforms, our sovereign republic needed to secure of favourable external conditions. The matter of security has become one of the main priorities. Having understood that the security in the region can only be achieved through co-operation with the partner countries, the Republic of Kazakhstan has actively engaged into the relevant efforts of international community.
SECURITY POLICY AT THE WORLD ARENA
The matters of war and peace have always been at the central places in the international relations. However, in the second half of this century they became even more acute because of the appearance and modernisation of such terrible kinds of weaponry as the nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. Therefore, all related problems for obvious reasons have received the prime concern in the foreign policy of Kazakhstan.
Being a successor to the USSR, Kazakhstan has become signatory to the most important treaties in the disarmament, armament control and confidence improving areas. These documents are the Strategic Arms Reduction Talks Treaties START-I and START-II, Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, Treaty on dismantling of Medium and Short Range Missiles and the Conventional Forces in Europe Treaty. As you know, on September 26, 1997, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia, Ukraine and the United States signed in New York a package of documents confirming continuity and multilateral dimensions of the 1972 ABM treaty.
Kazakhstan is a member of the international security bodies such as the UN, the OSCE and IAEA.
As a sovereign state, Kazakhstan has become a signatory to the weapons of mass destruction non-proliferation treaties. We have, first of all, signed Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty, Convention on ban on the development, production, storage and on elimination of the chemical weapons, as well the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty that has particular significance to our country.
Kazakhstan is firmly committed to non-proliferation. We intend to participate actively in its further strengthening. Our country decisively backs the aims of the CTB treaty. Kazakhstan considers the signing of this document to be one of the most important historic events of our century and appeals to every state to sign up to it.
As you know, the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site, the largest in the world, has seen 470 explosions. The people's and the nature's health has suffered an enormous damage. We therefore consider the nuclear weapon the tragedy of all the nations in the world. It is not occasionally that one of the first decrees of the President has closed Semipalatinsk test site. We count this our contribution in the nuclear disarmament with historic significance. This September at the initiative of the President of Kazakhstan we have held an international nuclear non-proliferation conference.
The environmental security is also highly important for Central Asia. During the Almaty summit last February the heads of Central Asian states issued the Declaration proclaiming 1998 as the year of environment in our region. They declared the necessity for the creation of nuclear-free zone in Central Asia. The UN Secretary General Mr. Kofi Annan has supported the idea in his message to the participants of the Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan conferences last September.
I would also like to reiterate that Kazakhstan, as well as Ukraine and Belarus, has received the security guarantees from three of the nuclear states -- Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. We have signed the relevant Memorandum in December 1994 in Budapest.
Understanding the importance of reduction in conventional armaments of non-selective action, Kazakhstan has declared the moratorium on land mines export, including re-export and transit as from August 6, 1997.
The creation of Central Asian Battalion under the UN auspices has become another factor strengthening stability in our region. It is also obvious evidence to the realisation of the proposal by the President of Kazakhstan supported by the Presidents of Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. The first exercises of this Battalion have recently been successfully carried out in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan in co-operation with other 'Partnership for Peace' countries, such as Russia, Turkey and the United States.
The Kazakhstan-NATO co-operation in the PFP programme is not reduced to the exercises, it is multilateral. Almaty works with the Alliance in the sphere of scientific and technical research. We participate in the Nato forums on security.
Being a Eurasian state, Kazakhstan pays particular attention to the regional and sub-regional security both in Europe and in Asia.
I would underline the significant progress in different regions of Eurasia, namely positive development of the CFE Treaty, signing of the package of documents on ABM Treaty that I mentioned earlier.
We consider the signing of the unique agreements between China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan on the confidence measures and troops' reduction in the frontiers' areas as the significant achievement in international security. As you know, the agreements of May 1996 have gained further momentum last April, when five nations have signed the agreement on the troops' reduction in the frontiers' areas. Together with the signing of the Kazakh-Chinese agreement on the disputed border issues last month, all these agreements have laid down the firm base for normal relations of the signatories. They also show the good will and readiness for security co-operation of the largest neighbouring powers -- China and Russia.
Presenting the people with the strategy 'Kazakhstan-2030', President N.Nazarbayev once again reiterated the versatile character of our foreign policy. The priorities of our security strategy are:
The trustworthy and equal relations with Russia, our closest and historically friendly neighbour;
the same neighbourly relations of trust with China;
the close links and integration in Central Asia;
the development of the relations with the Middle East;
the strengthening of the relations with the main democratic industrialised nations, including the USA.
Having described the Kazakhstan's international security policy at the global level, I would like to pay particular attention to the security in Asia.
SECURITY IN ASIA
Once great Heine said: 'Every epoch has its own missions'. One of the missions of our epoch is the safeguarding of security in Asia, for this is the guarantee of the global security. The whole range of factors is an evidence for it.
First, there is a particularly dense concentration of armed forces and weapons, including nuclear weapons, in Asia. The continent also has numerous sources of tension, the militarization process is continuing and the level of instability is dangerously high.
Second, Asian states play an important role on the international political scene. It is worth recalling the far-reaching proposals of India for a nuclear-weapon-free and non-violent world, the concept of a new international order advocated by China, the initiative of Mongolia to set up a mechanism for dialogue on a nuclear-free zone in South Pacific, the proposals of ASEAN and countries of Indochina regarding the creation of similar zones in South East Asia and the initiative of Japan to build a Commonwealth of Nations within the organisation for Asia Pacific co-operation.
Third, although Asia constitutes a whole in the geographical sense, it is not the case yet in geopolitical sense. Almost everywhere in the world but for this vast region, continental forums exist to discuss current issues of security and interaction. There is the OSCE in Europe, OAS in America, OAU in Africa, LAS in the Middle East, etc.
The only conclusion to be drawn from the above remarks is that Asian countries, notwithstanding all their differences, need a system of international agreements on political confidence-building and interaction that would enable them to develop successfully their economies and to strengthen their sovereignty. The latter is especially important for the young post-Soviet states of Central Asia, including the Republic of Kazakhstan.
One of the foreign policy priorities of our state is, therefore, the promotion of the initiative of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-building Measures in Asia (CICA).
CICA
The idea to create the special institution of security and co-operation in Asia has been several times, although unsuccessfully due to lack of support, advanced before. One can recall the USSR proposal for collective security in Asia. In the beginning of the 90s such idea has gained new momentum. Presenting sovereign Kazakhstan to the world for the first time in history, President Nazarbayev has put forward to the 47th United Nations General Assembly the peaceful initiative of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-building measures in Asia (CICA). The head of Kazakhstan underlined that the heart of the initiative is the idea to re-start the previously abortive efforts to create the efficacious and universal structure to safeguard security in Asia. The important point in it is, as I said earlier, the absence of such mechanism in Asia.
The CICA process is, in Mr. Nazarbayev's words, the long-term work on the creation of the structures for security and co-operation that later can include the disarmament talks. In all her practical steps in international security and disarmament, the Republic of Kazakhstan proceeds from two principles.
First is 'from understanding of the new geo-economical tendencies -- through improvement of the existing and the creation of new international security systems -- to the search for new approaches to disarmament'.
Second is 'from creation of regional security systems -- through improvement and transformation of continental security systems -- to the search for efficacious processes to improve the global security'.
From the very beginning the CICA has received the support of different Asian states that play significant role in defining political climate on the continent as well as of the international bodies, such as UN, OSCE, LAS. Why is it that this initiative of Kazakhstan has received the international support? Many states acknowledged that this is because this initiative is, first, advanced in the new historical settings, second, is associated with the state contributing significantly to the international security, and finally, third, is advocated by such a respected leader as Mr. Nazarbayev.
At the preliminary stage Kazakhstan has organised three meetings of the foreign ministries' representatives of Asian states interested in CICA. They discussed the main directions and the framework for the Conference. The participants of the meetings agreed that the regional disagreements could not prevent all the regional nations from agreeing on the common approaches to security and co-operation.
During the discussions we agreed to settle the core principles of interaction into the relevant CICA documents. Thus, the Special Working Group was set up to prepare in administrational and ideological terms the Conference of foreign ministers. The SWG has held 5 sessions. Kazakhstan has put forward three drafts of documents: Declaration on the Principles of Relations among the CICA members, Concept of CICA development, CICA Institutions and Structures.
We think that in order to proceed with further security system creation in Asia the CICA participants need to accept the range of founding principles of constant dialogue and search for mutual understanding. It is because of this that the Declaration on the Principles is ranked as the main task. The draft Declaration includes certain spheres of these principles:
Sovereign equality, respect for rights of sovereignty.
Refraining from the threat or use of force.
Territorial integrity of the member states.
Peaceful settlement of disputes.
Non-intervention in internal affairs.
Disarmament and Arms Control.
Economic and cultural co-operation.
At the Almaty Conference of the foreign ministers' deputies of CICA held in February 1996, the representatives of 23 Asian nations agreed that CICA process would need considerable time and joint efforts by all participants. The discussions revealed the countries' intentions for thorough work in the preparation of basic documents and in the defining of the directions of co-operation. The final Resolution of this session acknowledged the necessity of co-operation in the SWG that would lead to the defining the basic documents in line with the proposals of participants. Being a co-ordinator of SWG, Kazakhstan is currently working on the enlargement of the CICA in order to determine the whole system of the security aspects in the region.
At the June 1996 SWG session Ukraine and Australia, two large non-Asian states, have joined the CICA process which is the evidence of growth of international interest to the idea. At the April 1997 SWG session the USA and the LAS have also joined the CICA process which is important for the promotion of the initiative.
Today we can highlight the following results of the CICA so far:
the initiative of Kazakhstan has received support of considerable number of Asian states as well as of the international bodies; it has become the important factor of regional policy (CICA participants: Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, China, Egypt, India, Iran, Israel, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Pakistan, Palestine Authority, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkey, Uzbekistan; CICA observers: Australia, Indonesia, Japan, Korea (the Republic of), Lebanon, Ukraine, USA, League of Arab States; international organisations: UN, OSCE, Interstate council of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan);
the CICA has gained steady momentum;
the SWG activity has led to the rapprochement of positions in defining the wording on the main security aspects; it has also been highly appraised by the Asian states;
the specific interstate relations in Asia has been agreed to be taken into consideration whilst creating new mechanism;
the use of other regional security structures' experiences has been considered to be reasonable.
The participants of the session supported the idea of including into the official documents the following principles:
guarantees of the territorial integrity;
respect for the sovereignty of all member states;
non-intervention in internal affairs;
negotiations as the only way of resolution of conflicts and crises.
All these principles are well known. All members of international community accept them. They are laid down as the foundation for international legislature in form of basic documents of the United Nations, regional associations as well as bilateral and multilateral agreements. The unconditional acceptance of these principles by all Asian nations is the basis for further development of CICA.
The emerging forum is facing quite a lot of the conceptual problems. The latter arise while discussing the use of the administrative and conceptual principles of other regional security structures. It is understood, however, that their experience can not be used in the pure straightforward manner in the CICA process. Therefore, we think that the multi-level consultations are the optimum way of further CICA process.
Apart from the main problems of Asian security that I mentioned before, the CICA process is also about other core problems of the system of security. These can be listed as the matters related to the conventional armaments, ecological and economic aspects of security, humanitarian co-operation, the fighting with terrorism and drugs, immigration policy. These problems can find their solution after the mechanism of the CICA becomes fully operational. Their detailed discussions are not included into the current preparatory stage. At the present stage of the formation of this regional forum and laying down the basis for co-operation, Kazakhstan advocates the idea of concentrating on the positions accepted by all participants and not on accentuating on the differences in various matters.
The SWG sessions demonstrate that the CICA participants understand differently the range of important problems of security. The search for the security solution in Asia has never been easy due to the heterogeneity of its nations. Indeed, Asia is a unique continent in terms of differences in culture, mentality and languages. As one Chinese saying goes, and this can describe the Asian uniqueness, 'everybody sleeps in the same bed whilst dreaming about different things'.
Moreover, there are still the unresolved territorial disputes in our region. All this contributes to the friction in the international relations. The complicated matters of bilateral relations are inevitably resurfacing in the multilateral diplomacy. These factors are only contributing furthermore to the strategic importance of the CICA initiative of President Nazarbayev.
The discussions in the CICA process revealed the aspiration of the participants towards rapprochement in the whole set of problems of vital importance. The participating nations' support for the CICA idea has given us ground to believe that the successful realisation of Kazakhstan initiative is not in the end the unachievable aim.
THE PROSPECTS OF SECURITY MECHANISM IN ASIA
Mr. Nazarbayev wrote in his book 'At the Threshold of 21st Century' that '...our initiatives in foreign policy derived not only from the necessity of strengthening of security but also from the recognition of the other, not least important, long-term perspective. The latter is the problem of formation of new world order and of new type of international relationship after the Cold War and the crush of the two-polar system.'
The recognition by the international community of the common criteria and rules of behaviour, which are the UN efforts all about, does not lead to the elimination of differences among the states, people and civilisations that have in the basis different religions, traditions and values. As Mr. Nazarbayev underlined in his book, the diversity, asymmetry and divergence of the modern world must not lead to the conclusion of the fatal inevitability of clashes between its separate parts. '...It is time to stop seeing the world in terms of opposition: West--East, North--South, super powers--the Third world, nuclear club--the rest of the world. This approach was born by all the previous history of clashes between blocs and social systems. All this is gradually turning into the past. The concepts of clashes must be replaced by the concept of co-operation of the people, civilisations and the nations'. This particular concept is mirrored in our initiative of CICA.
Once Cicero said, 'the diligent farmer plants trees, of which he himself will never see the fruit.' Understanding the need of the long time required for our efforts in strengthening peace in Asia, we are keen, however, to make sure that our generation will see the fruit of these trees.
I think that if CICA can help saving the life of at least one human being we can count our work worthy. If, in more broad perspective, we manage to create the real efficacious mechanism of regional security and to stop at least one regional conflict or, indeed, escalation of the real war with its help, than it seems that all those who doubt the sense and importance of this process will have no more doubts left. We are convinced that today, with the Special Working Group in place and having its sessions regularly, with the results of the first session of deputies of foreign ministers and with the second session is, by the way, only a fortnight ahead of us, and with the prospect of coming foreign ministers' session, we can state the positive tendencies and the momentum of such a process.
As the future prospects we envisage gradual transformation of the process of consultations into the organisationally complete forum co-operating in parallel with the same bodies in Eurasia such as the OSCE and ASEAN.
Of course, we know that this will come into the reality not tomorrow, not even the day after tomorrow but the experience of other structures indicates the long duration and the difficulties of these processes. But, as the Oriental saying goes, 'the longest road begins with the first step.' Kazakhstan has already made this step.
Thank you for your kind attention.
