IRAN AND CHINA TO EXPAND TRADE AND ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION
TEHRAN 20 Apr. (IPS) The Islamic Republic and the communist People Republic of China Saturday signed six agreements on economic, scientific and cultural cooperation as visiting Chinese President Jiang Zemin and his Iranian host Hojjatoleslam Mohammad Khatami started talks on bilateral ties as well as regional developments.
The documents, covering oil, gas, trade, transportation, information
technology (IT) as well as educational and cultural exchanges were signed with
the presence of the two presidents who met at the former royal palace of Sa’dabad
in the posh northern part of the Capital.
Oil Minister Bizhan Namdar-Zanganeh and the Chinese side signed agreements for investment in the oil, gas and petrochemicals sector and on its upstream and downstream industry as other ministers inked protocols to avoid double taxation, co-operation on shipping as well as on educational and scientific cooperation.
Iran's head of the Chamber of Commerce AliNaqi Khamushi and the Chinese side signed an agreement on the establishment of a joint council on commerce between the two countries, the official Iranian news agency IRNA said, adding that the two presidents pledged to promote cooperation in expanding mutual ties, reinforcing world peace, fighting violence, terrorism and a uni-polar world, and respecting interests and rights of all world nations.
"Our forefathers began friendly exchanges through the world-famous Silk Road more than 2,000 years ago", the pro-conservative, English-language "Tehran Times" quoted Jiang as having said.
Zemin hoped his visit to Iran would open a new chapter in mutual ties, and said the promotion of Tehran-Beijing relations would benefit regional and international peace and stability.
Stressing that Peking and Tehran have enjoyed friendly relations, observers said however Iran does not expect China to take the side of the Islamic Republic in its antagonism with the United States, which has named Iran as an "evil State", noting that China’s trade exchange with Washington stands at more than 65 billions US Dollars against slightly above 3 billions with Iran.
"The United States is China's biggest trade partner and Beijing will not try to heavily damage its strategic relationship with Washington, but its independent foreign policy as a leading world player provides great chances of political co-operation", Mr. Behzad Shahandeh, a Tehran University professor and expert on Southeast Asia told the CNN.
Deceived by neighbouring Russia, the Iranian clerical rulers are pinning hopes for the creation of a utopian Tehran-New Delhi Peking axis to oppose American growing influence in Central Asia, experts said.
However, China and Iran have almost identical views on the situation in the Middle East, Afghanistan and Central Asia, both fighting for a "multi-polar" world instead the present one that is dominated by Washington.
In his talks with his Iranian counterpart, Mr. Zemin stressed that China is pursuing well-defined policies to create a peaceful global environment, and voiced Beijing's opposition to expansionist tendencies, IRNA reported from the meeting.
"China support a multi-polar world, is critical of Israeli killings and believes peace in the Middle East will not be achieved without materialisation of the rights of Palestinians, including withdrawal of Israeli troops from occupied territories", the Chinese ambassador to Iran, Sun Bi Gan told the State-run Tehran television, adding that Iran and China were seeking to "revive their golden Silk Road ties".
The Chinese president described Iran's efforts to reinforce peace and stability in the war-shattered Afghanistan as "positive", and stressed that Afghanistan's neighbours would like peace, stability and sustained development in that country.
"China has always supported the just demands of Arab nations, including Palestine, for sovereignty, territorial integrity", the Chinese leader stressed, voicing the Chinese pledge to broker for peace through international diplomatic channels.
Khatami, for his part, said China has a significant status in Iran's foreign policy, and voiced Iran's interest in diversifying relations with China in all areas.
"Promotion of Tehran-Peking ties would raise Asia's status in the international arena", noted the embattled Iranian President.
Khatami described the developments in the occupied territories as "catastrophic" and stressed that Tehran has "obviously" championed the rights of the Palestinians as well as the establishment of a lasting regional peace based on justice.
The Iranian president reiterated that Tehran has always voiced objections to the unilateral support of the US government for the Zionist regime, and said Iran condemns the Zionist oppression against the Palestinians.
Zemin arrived on Thursday in the southern Iranian city of Shiraz at the head of a 180-strong economic and political delegation on the last leg of a five-nation tour, which has already taken him to Nigeria, Germany, Libya and Tunisia.
The visit is only the second by a Chinese head of state to Tehran since the Islamic Revolution in 1979 and Jiang's first, which is in response to President Mohammad Khatami's trip to China in 2000, IRNA observed.
According to Mr. Shahandeh, Jiang's visit to Iran is "a turning point" in Sino-Iranian ties because it comes less than three months after U.S. President George W. Bush accused Iran of being part of an "axis of evil," which together with North Korea and Iraq seeks to develop weapons of mass destruction.
In their commentaries, Iranian newspapers said though Tehran has also a lot to learn from economic reforms in China to improve its ill economy, yet, on political side, one should not expect any dramatic outcome from the visit. ENDS IRAN CHINA 20402