Part 5 --The visit to Xinjiang included meetings with Muslim scholars at the grand mosque in Kashgar, where the 12th-century Persian poet Sa'adi had prayed. Earlier, on June 23, in Beijing, the Iranian president had participated in Friday prayers at the Beijing mosque, built in 996 A.D. While there, he viewed the Persian scholars, Emaddodin Bokhari and Ahmad Bertani Qazvini, who were buried there, 700 years ago.
When meeting with members of China's Islamic Assembly, Khatami told them, the Silk Road is "a way linking the hearts between the nations of Iran and China." He also urged them to respect the rights of the Chinese nation.
Asian Convergence Strategy There is no doubt, that the successful encounter of the Iranian and Chinese government representatives, signaled further consolidation of the regional arrangements of cooperation and self-defense which have been proliferating in Asia. In his remarks to a business conference in Hong Kong on June 26, President Khatami outlined the case for including Iran in such arrangements, as a viable trade partner; he referenced the fact that his government has introduced economic reforms, and new measures for protecting foreign investment, and pointed to its vast raw materials resources, as well as its strategic location as a bridge to Europe, the Middle East, the Caucasus, and Central Asia. These geographical factors, he said, meant that cooperation would go beyond Hong Kong and Iran, "to give them access to a market of several hundred million people in Western Asia and several billion on this continent as a whole." Emphasizing that Iran considers cooperation with Asia as a "macropolicy," a cornerstone of its foreign policy, he outlined his view of the potential for cooperation of a strategic nature. "We genuinely believe that the Asian counties, with their past experiences and common, rich, and multifarious economic capabilities, their vast underground and immense human resources, are quite capable of institutionalization of an Asian convergence strategy." He said, "Close cooperation of regional countries via manipulation of each others' potentials for the purpose of development, along with the Asian convergence policy, will be both feasible and to the benefit of all parties." This cooperation, he said , in the event of financial crises, "can act as an invincible fortress, drastically reducing the ominous impact of such crises." In other words, Iran has become part and parcel of the regional combinations that have come into being in Asia, and has adopted an Asian convergence strategy.
It is no coincidence that Khatami's China visit, largely ignored by the major Western press, was carefully followed in the Asian press. The press inside Iran hailed the event as a great step forward, singling out the fact that China is an independent country, and does not allow itself to be dictated to.
The Kayhan International also lauded the Chinese for having welcomed Khatami in Xinjiang, pointing out that such developments would counter outside attempts to manipulate religious issues.
The Iran Daily called the visit a "momentous development," and commented, "countries like Russia, India, China, and Iran have well understood that the theory of a new global order' and unipolar system' is truly in efficacious and cannot make strategic Asian cooperation deteriorate." It said, that therefore, "these powerful and important countries continue to be capable of forming a reliable economic and political security belt' in the volatile region." This idea of an Asian convergence, "will be the cornerstone of the future," according to the paper. It added that it is essential that "long-term and strategic Beijing-Tehran ties assume an effective and constructive part in the cultural, political, economic, and military systems of today's world." Cooperation on the Silk Road, it said, would reinforce Asia's "long-forgotten vital role in global equations." Japanese media, and India media also, highlighted the visit.
The New Delhi-based Pioneer highlighted the fact that Khatami was the first Muslim leader to visit Xinjiang.
(Concluded)