INTERNATIONAL: After 1,300 Years

FOREIGN NEWS

The proudest of Persians last week was Hossein Khan Keyostevan, consul for his country at Karachi, India. From Teheran he had just received orders to go next month to Shanghai and open a Persian consulate, thus becoming the first man in 1,300 years to establish official diplomatic relations between Persia and China.

What Persia and China quarreled about in the Seventh Century no U. S. Persian could remember last week. An agreement between the two countries was signed in 1920, but even that did not result in an exchange of representatives. In fact no quarrel occurred. When the Sassanian dynasty fell 1,300 years ago all permanent relations with foreign countries were broken off. Successively Persia was ruled by various Arab conquerors, the Turks, Afghans. Recently Shah Reza Khan Pahlevi, who has been anxious to restore diplomatic relations after the 1,300-year lapse, discovered that Nanking was also willing. Hossein Khan Keyostevan’s orders promptly followed.