On October 22, 2004, Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing attended and addressed the Foreign Ministers' Meeting of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA) held in Almaty, Kazakhstan. He stressed that the peaceful development of China has brought, and will continue to bring about great opportunities to the whole world, and to Asia first.

Li said that China is committed to developing good-neighborly relationship and partnership with our neighbors, pursuing the policy of creating a "harmonious, tranquil and prosperous" neighborhood, developing the good-neighborly, equal, mutual beneficial and cooperative relations with all the other Asian countries, participating in and promoting the all-round regional and sub-regional cooperation and building a peaceful, safe, cooperative and prosperous Asia.

Li complimented that CICA, as an important regional political and security forum, follows the principles of seeking consensus through consultation, proceeding step by step and paying attention to issues of common concern, takes into account the real conditions of the region and plays a unique role in maintaining regional security and stability and promoting cooperation. China actively supports and participates in the CICA process and will continue to conduct constructive cooperation with all the member states within the framework of CICA.

Li said that Asia as a whole enjoys stability, a good momentum of economic growth and increasing regional cooperation. Peace, security and prosperity are the common aspirations of the people of all countries in Asia. Realizing the rejuvenation of countries and nations is the common task of all countries of Asia. China calls on the member states of CICA and all the countries in Asia to bypass differences in civilization, tradition, ideology and social system, put aside historical problems and seek and expand common interests, build a new security concept of mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality and collaboration, get rid of the old idea of seeking unilateral security, resolve contradictions and disputes through dialogue, consultation and mutual understanding and accommodation, strengthen regional and sub-regional cooperation, uphold multilateralism, solve problems existing in the process of common development, deepen economic and trade cooperation, facilitate trade and investment, open markets to each other gradually and advance regional economic integration in a down-to-earth manner.

Li noted that such traditional and non-traditional security concerns as terrorism, separatism, extremism, hot regional conflicts, arms smuggling and drug traffic still threaten the peace and stability of all countries in Asia. Fight against terrorism still has a long way to go and international cooperation in this regard must be strengthened. The "East Turkistan" terrorist force constitutes a severe threat to the peace and stability of China and the entire region. Fight against the "East Turkistan" terrorist force is an important part of international combat against terrorism. On this issue, China appreciates the support of the member states of CICA and expects closer cooperation with them.

CICA was launched at the initiative of Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev in 1992. Now it has 17 member states which are Kazakhstan, China, Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Egypt, India, Iran, Israel, Kyrgyz, Mongolia, the State of Palestine, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkey, Uzbekistan and Thailand.