Jiang deplores expansion of US war on terror

Via NY Transfer News * All the News That Doesn't Fit

AFP via Times of India - April 21, 2002

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow.asp?art_ID=7588001


Jiang deplores expansion of US war on terror

TEHRAN, Apr 21 (AFP)--Chinese President Jiang Zemin concluded a
five-nation tour in Iran Sunday, voicing loud opposition to an
expansion of Washington's "war on terror" and policies in the Middle
East.

Jiang denounced here Washington's robust entry into Central Asia
since deposing Afghanistan's fundamentalist Taliban regime and warned
once again against US designs on widening the field of battle to
other countries.

"Beijing's policy is against strategies of force and the US military
presence in Central Asia and the Middle East region," Jiang said
after talks here late Saturday with former Iranian president Ali
Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.

Turning to the Middle East, he accused Israel of "not having
implemented UN resolutions" calling for its withdrawal from
Palestinian territories and criticised "US support for Israel's
policies," Tehran Radio reported.

Jiang's two week-tour also brought him to Nigeria, Tunisia, Germany
and Libya, which, like Iran, the White House has long charged with
sponsoring terrorism and seeking weapons of mass destruction.

"One of the primary issues for China is to protect developing
countries from the pretensions of the United States," Jiang said,
while calling for "a lasting peace in Afghanistan which has been torn
by war."

Jiang met on Sunday with Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei, who said Iran wanted to strengthen its ties with both China
and India in the name of "regional and global security."

China, Libya and Iran were all identified as potential targets in a
recently leaked Pentagon nuclear weapons strategy review.

Jiang, who arrived Thursday on the second visit by a Chinese head of
state to Iran since its 1979 Islamic revolution, hoped the mission
would "open a new chapter in bilateral relations to the benefit of
regional and international peace and stability."

On Saturday, Jiang met with Iran's President Mohammed Khatami and
with parliament speaker, Mehdi Karubi. Those talks also centered on
the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the US-led "war on terror."

China "does not share the same point of view on terror as the United
States," Jiang said in his talks with Karubi, cited by the official
INA news agency.

He called for "proof" before launching any attacks in the name of the
"war on terror" and said the problem of terror should be solved "at
the roots."

Following the September 11 attacks, Beijing generally backed the US
invasion of Afghanistan and invoked the war as a justification for
its own crackdown on Muslim separatists in its northwest region.

However, China has been wary of Washington's unilateralism.

In January, US President George W. Bush accused Iran, along with Iraq
and North Korea, of forming an "axis of evil" that supports terror.

Washington has, in the past, accused Beijing of aiding all three
countries with their weapons programmes.

In a nod to the threats from Washington, Khatami said: "Iran wants a
world without weapons of mass destruction, and while respecting
agreements on production and proliferation bans, we reserve ourselves
the right to have defence means at our disposal."

On the Middle East situation, Khatami urged China to use its seat on
the UN Security Council to "play a greater role in putting an end to
the crimes of the Zionist regime against the Palestinian people," the
statement said.

Khatami and Jiang also attended the signing of six bilateral
agreements, none of which were linked to defence cooperation.

The deals sealed cooperation between Iran and China in the fields of
hydrocarbons, trade, transport, information technology, cultural
exchanges and education.

"Thanks to these agreements, bilateral trade should increase
substantially," said a member of the Iranian delegation, noting that
it already stood at $3.5 billion a year.

One of China's main oil suppliers, Tehran was also a top buyer of
Chinese arms during the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war and now hopes to find
a place on the huge Chinese market for its natural gas reserves.

Jiang also hailed Tehran's efforts to restore peace in war-torn
Afghanistan, which has borders with both countries.

Before the start of the tour, Chinese analysts described Jiang's trip
as a direct message to Washington.

"This visit is to show that America cannot just define as it wishes
rogue states," Zhu Feng, director of Beijing University's
International Security Program said.

 
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