Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – June 29, 1985

After breakfast, which is usually spent at eight o'clock in the morning, we went to see the "Forbidden City", a complex of former Chinese imperial palaces - whose skeleton is made of wood - and they said that its total area is seventy hectares and the number of rooms is 9 thousand, and they also gave explanations. In the end, we got explanations about their lives and duties from two of the ladies who work in the palaces. Then we went to meet Mr. Teng Xiaoping, the leader of China, and we negotiated for an hour. He did not promise explicitly about the sale of weapons during the war, but they are very willing to develop economic relations and need currency.

Then a press interview was held in the same Palace of the People's Congress, which lasted for about an hour and a half, and we answered the journalists' questions about the war and terrorism, the results of the trip to China, relations with America, etc. Lunch and prayer were held at the residence, and then we went to visit the famous Great Wall of China. The road traveled by car is green and mountainous and it took two and a half hours to go back and forth.

We rested a little and went to the Congress Palace to meet the ambassadors living in Beijing. After the introduction, I gave them explanations about Iran's foreign policy and relied on an independent policy free from the influence of great powers. From there we went to our embassy. We had dinner at the embassy and negotiated with the embassy staff and Iranian students for an hour and addressed their problems and returned to the residence at night.