unpardonable offense of using the term “Arabian Gulf” instead of Persian Gulf, sending Iranian officials into a frenzy of action.
The offensive nomenclature appeared on maps that were used in the opening ceremonies Friday at the Asian Games, being held in Guangzhou, China.
Irked Iranian officials were firing off letters to their Chinese counterparts strongly condemning this “distortion.” However, the official reaction was much milder than when the offensive term appears in the West. Then, the usage is usually characterized as an intentional crime against Iran and Iranians.
Its use in China, however, was portrayed as unfortunate ignorance and not assigned any duplicitous motive.
The media gave much attention to a reported telephoned apology from the Chinese chairman of the games.
Iranian Ambassador to China Mehdi Safari went out of his way to play down the use of the terminology. He said it was just a simple mistake by the organizers of the games and did not reflect Chinese foreign policy or its view of Iran. It did, however, suggest that, as in the West, Chinese are now dealing more with Arabs than with Iranians and are hearing and accepting the term “Arabian Gulf” as normal..
The usage crops up more and more often. Last year, in a variation over the usual tiff, the Islamic Republic completely canceled the Islamic Solidarity Games it had so long supported.
Iran was to host the games and had designed medals with a map of Iran and the “Persian Gulf,” so labeled. Arab states refused to participate unless the medals were changed to read “Arabian Gulf” or “The Gulf.” When Iran could not prevail, it canceled the games despite two years of preparatory work and the expenditure of $10 million.