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Khatami, Zemin begin talks amid fresh pledge to promote ties |
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Tehran, April 20, IRNA -- Visiting Chinese President Jiang Zemin and President Mohammad Khatami here Saturday 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. 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. He assured full Chinese support for dialogue among civilizations, first initiated by the Islamic Republic, and said such dialogue could help the human society to 'raise confidence and reach at agreements beside difference'. Zemin stressed that China is pursuing well-defined policies to create a peaceful global environment, and voiced Beijing's opposition to expansionist tendencies. He rejected resorting to violence to carry forward policies, and said China advocates a negotiated settlement of disputes. The Chinese president described Iran's efforts to reinforce peace and stability in the war-shattered Afghanistan as 'positive', and stressed that Afghanistan's neighbors would like peace, stability and sustained development in that country. Zemin said China has always supported the just demands of Arab nations, including Palestine, for sovereignty, territorial integrity, and voiced 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. He said the promotion of Tehran-Beijing ties would raise Asia's status in the international arena. Khatami stressed the need to identify capacities to boost mutual cooperation, and voiced Tehran's support for bilateral cooperation at the parliamentary level as well as in the context of friendship groups and private sector. He stressed Iran's position on re-building Afghanistan, and said that other countries should not play with the destiny of the Afghan people. Elsewhere in his remarks, 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. Khatami further called on the international community to take a more active stance regarding the developments in the occupied territories, and stressed the contribution of China, as a member of the United Nations Security Council, to halting the atrocities of the Zionist regime against the Palestinians. Jiang 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. He arrived in capital Tehran late Friday. 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. |
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