Author: Farshad Adel, Chair Of The Silk Road Working Group At The Iran-China Think Tank For Strategic Studies
The dream of the development of Asia is a theme that has been repeatedly raised after the confrontation of the people of the East with Western modernity and the achievements of Europeans in various intellectual and industrial fields. Although Asia can look back on an illustrious history of civilization and culture, it has always felt dependent on the West in recent centuries, and it is only in the last few decades that currents have emerged in Asia to step out of the heavy shadow of the West. Various efforts, in some cases successful and in others unsuccessful, and the myth of development is still associated in the minds of many people in the East with following the example of the West.
But perhaps the greatest failure of Asian countries in achieving comprehensive development in the intellectual, scientific, and industrial fields lies in the fact that no model corresponds to the civilizational history and oriental spirit of Asian countries. Accordingly, countries such as China, which are aware of this problem, are trying to offer unique intellectual initiatives and products to compensate for this loss by restoring the cultural elements of the East such as the Silk Road. The emerging powers need to present intellectual products to the world today that offer the possibility of shaping a new era by producing narratives and scientific literature modeled on Asian progress.
Iran, as one of the most important Asian civilizations, must be present in this scene to play a role in the new era and establish its place in the emerging new order, and present to the world the unique intellectual products that are the result of Iran’s stance and vision on Continental cooperation and international collaboration.
The continental mentality can be considered as one of the ideas used as a theoretical framework for analyzing international trends and events, as well as for future research on the role of Eastern powers in the new world order, and as a unique intellectual product and attitude that can be presented to the world.
The Continental mentality can be regarded as an attitude that characterizes the spirit of Asian cooperation. In the Continental mindset, the entire Asian region is seen as interconnected. Despite the diversity of civilizations existing in Asia, there are inseparable links and direct influences between these civilizations, and meaningful connections can be found between these civilizations, which is the result of geographical continuity in Asia.
The mainland of Asia is full of plains and deserts surrounded by mountains, and between these mountains, there are natural passages such as rivers and valleys connecting the enclosed points. These natural passages in various forms were the first corridors that people passed through in Asia, and over the centuries they gradually became the routes used for commercial communication and caravan traffic. The Silk Road is the most famous example of this type of road, which, with its various branches, provided continuous communication between Asian cities and along which the most important developments in Asia took place.
These roads, which were built based on historical experiments and natural corridors, are thousands of years old and some are still in use today. For example, the East-West Corridor of Iran, which connects Khorasan with the western provinces of Iran, is one of the roads considered several thousand years old.
According to historical sources, there have been extensive migrations in Asia throughout history, of which the migration of the Aryans was one of the most important examples. From the contents of the two Aryan scriptures, Avesta and Veda, it appears that the Aryans probably lived in the southern plains of Siberia or northern Turkestan around three thousand years BC and later moved to warmer areas due to the cooling of the air or population growth. They first came to Sogd in Central Asia and then crossed the Balkhab Valley, a tributary of the Jihun River, to reach the land of Balkh. Then a group of them reached the central areas of the Iranian plateau via Merv, Herat, Sarkhs, Tos, Neishabur, Gorgan, and Shahrood and settled near Ray. This route is almost the same as the one still used today.
The roads that formed based on natural corridors in Asia were the roads that existed before the existence of cities in Asia, and the inhabitants of the Asian region, by crossing them, reached the points that later became the centers of population accumulation and large cities that supported great civilizations. therefore, it can be concluded that the Asian cities were connected from the beginning of their formation due to the geography of this area and because they were built along the communication corridors, and this continuous connection led to a kind of mutual destiny between them. Is. The common connecting element between these cities, which is also the guarantee of their survival, is the communication routes along which trade caravans, religions, science and technology, and warrior armies traveled and determined the fate of Asian civilizations. In such an environment, where roads connected the Asian cities like a chain of rosaries, the fate of these cities was also connected. As land trade flourished, so did these cities, and they were simultaneously damaged by disasters such as the Mongol attack or the spread of the plague
This historical co-destination, which is the result of geographical continuity in Asia, eventually led to the formation of civilizational links between Asian cities
The Continental mentality assumes that regional developments in Asia affect all countries in the Asian region due to this common destiny and civilizational links between Asian countries which are rooted in the history of these countries. In such an attitude, the Asian region is seen as a group of countries in which no country can act completely independently of its neighbors, as it is inevitably affected by the developments of surrounding countries due to geographical and civilizational ties
For this reason and because of the Continental mentality, development in Asia will only be realized if all countries in the Asian region have the same minimum requirements to achieve development. Based on this mentality, none of the Asian countries can continue to grow in the long term without considering and solving the threats around them, because war, unrest, famine migration, and challenges of this kind in the periphery of Asian countries can affect the growth process of these countries