Research On The Relationship Between China And Mongolia At The Beginning Of The21st Century

Mongolia is one of the most important neighbors in northern China. China andMongolia are linked by mountains and rivers and the boundary line is as long as4,700kilometers. Among the many continental neighbors of China, Mongolia is the countrywho has the most extensive land region bordering with Chinese mainland. Historically,Mongolia was once a part of China, but later, because of the interaction of internal andexternal factors, Mongolia was separated from China and became an independentcountry. In1990s, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Mongolia was liberated fromits tight governing and from then on, Mongolia stepped on an independentdevelopmental path and accordingly, a new page has been opened on the relationshipbetween China and Mongolia. In the first10years of the21stcentury, the relationshipbetween China and Mongolia experienced two important ascensions from thegood-neighborly partnership of mutual trust to strategic partnership and the relationshipwent into the best historical period. This paper, set in the backgrounds of China’s rise,the huge changes of internal political and economic pattern and the new securitychallenges faced by the northeast Asia, and based on the existing research results of theexperts and scholars both at home and abroad, tried to study deeply and systematicallyabout the relationship between the two countries since the21stcentury and find theinteractive rules, and then analyze the existing problems and find the solutions.In the first chapter, through the investigation and analysis to the new changes of thenortheast Asian geopolitical security pattern at the beginning of the21stcentury, theauthor interpreted the influence of this new political security situation to the relationshipbetween the two countries. China and Mongolia are neighboring countries and havedeep historical origin. The geopolitical interaction between the two countries is closelyrelated to the development and evolution of the northeast Asian geopolitical environment. Since the21stcentury, the economic and political status of the northeastAsia is increasingly promoting globally. Northeast Asia is one of the areas whoseeconomy grows the fastest and has also already become the huge economicdevelopment engine in Asian-Pacific region or even the whole world. Americapromoted the “Asia-Pacific Rebalancing” strategy, and got involved in the regionalaffairs of the northeast Asia strongly. In the northeast Asian region, a geopoliticalpattern that America is the super leader, with China, Japan and Russia’s coexistence hasbeen formed. Mongolia got involved in the interaction of “super” and “powerful”,“powerful” and “powerful” countries, thus China-Mongolia relationship is influenced ata deeper level. There is no multilateral security mechanism established at the northeastregion, therefore, the relevant countries have many conflicts on the problems left overby history, the territorial and waters disputes and so on, and these problems may be outof control and immerse the countries in the northeast Asia into new security dilemma.The “Third Neighbor” policy promoted by Mongolia introduced the major great powersinto Mongolia and cooperated with them in various fields, thus making the geopoliticalenvironment of northern China very delicate and its intention to use the “ThirdNeighbor” to counterbalance China is obvious. This has become a hidden barrier indeepening the cooperation between the two countries in various fields.The second chapter mainly focuses on the multi-dimensional geopolitical effectsproduced by China’s arise to the relationship between China and Mongolia. China’sarise is the most eye-catching geopolitical event at the beginning of the21stcentury allover the world and its geopolitical effects will continue to work. In the northeast Asiaregion, Mongolia has the longest boundaries and the most extensive bordering areaswith China. Its economic relationship with China is increasingly close. Although withthe influence of history and reality factors, Mongolian people have different cognitionswith Chinese; or because the other neighboring countries have a complex state-of-mindto China’s arise, Mongolia has “hitchhiking” and “precaution” ideas at the same time.But there is no denying the fact that China’s arise is influencing Mongolian society.China and Mongolia communicate smoothly in the fields of politics and security, andthe political mutual trust is promoting day by day; the economics and trade cooperationscope is enlarging and the communication and cooperation mechanisms are beingconstructed and increasingly mature; the communication in the fields of humanities andsocieties are expanding and deepening; and the public foundation of mutual understanding and mutual friendship is deepening and strengthening.In the third chapter, the author elaborated the geopolitical characteristics and thestrategic choices of Mongolia. Mongolia is located in the center of the Eurasia betweenthe two great powers—China and Russia, so its geographic location is quite special. Itsspecial geopolitical environment has its vulnerabilities such as no marine outfalls,sparsely populated population and its uneven distribution. These are its disadvantages;but it also has its advantages that Mongolia has very rich natural resources and theimportant strategic position coveted by its “Third Neighbor”. Mongolia has veryimportant geopolitical and strategic position no matter from Mongolia itself and itsneighboring great powers or from its “Third Neighbor” point of view. In the1990s,Mongolia realized economic and social transformation successfully and stepped on thepath of independent development. Multi-party parliamentary system, market economicsystem and democracy and freedom ideas are widely accepted by the public. The“multi-fulcrum” foreign policy of openness, nonalignment and equidistance enabledMongolia to extend its diplomatic space and stepped on the international stageauthentically. Mongolia used the “Third Neighbor” to balance the geopolitical pressurefrom China and Russia, and its pursuit of the strategic concepts of national political,economic and security stand out. Its geopolitical security strategy of using the “ThirdNeighbor” to protect itself conforms to the historical experience and realistic nationalconditions of Mongolia. But this strategy added more uncertainties to the securitysituations of China and Russia or even the whole northeast Asia.In the fourth chapter, the author interpreted the basic patterns and cooperationforms of Chinese and Mongolian geopolitical strategic interaction and the conflicts inthe process of interaction and the precautions and solutions. At the beginning of the21stcentury, under the background of the huge change of the political and security situationsin northeast Asia and China’s quick arise, China and Mongolia depend on thegeopolitical advantages, cooperated more and more deeply in the fields of politics,economics, humanistic societies. In2011，China and Mongolia announced to establishstrategic partnership. After that, the communications between governments at all levelsare more frequent, and the economics and trade cooperation is increasingly intimate,and the cooperation and communication in the fields of humanistic societies aredeepening, and also, all kinds of communication and cooperation mechanisms areestablished and are increasingly perfected. But due to the different strategic needs and ways of act, in the process of interaction, there are inevitably some disputes andconflicts. The different historical concepts make Mongolia have a grudge against China;“China Threat Theory” still prevails in Mongolia; ethnic and religious issues haveimportant influences over their relationship; the frequent interactions of Mongolia withthe “Third Neighbor” influenced China-Mongolia relationship more or less. Thecommon requirements for facing the conflicts, resolving contradictions and expandingcooperation have become the internal impetus to further promote the development ofbilateral relations.In chapter five, the author analyzed and interpreted the development prospect ofChina-Mongolia relationship and China’s strategic choices. Since China-Mongoliarelationship resumed to normal, through over20years’ of communication andcooperation, the complementarity of economics and trade cooperation between the twocountries is increasingly prominent; the political relationship development is promotingconstantly; they both participate in the regional economic cooperation actively, so theyaccumulated rich experience and made a great achievement. China-Mongoliarelationship has very rich connotations, and in the interactive development of the futurerelationship, new communication fields may be found out and new contents may beadded. The two countries will still have more cooperation in the fields of politics,economics, humanistic society, national security, judiciary and non-traditional securitiesand so on. China will hold fast to the peripheral diplomatic concepts of “friendly, honest,reciprocal, and tolerant”, and the peripheral foreign policy of “fostering an amicable,secure and prosperous neighborly environment”; respect the independence, sovereigntyand territorial integrity of Mongolia and its freedom in choosing its own developmentpath. Based on the spirit from the document of Development Outline of theChina-Mongolia Strategic Partnership in the mid-and-long Term signed by the twocountries in October,2013, they will broaden and enlarge the cooperation in all fieldsand greatly intensify the bilateral relationship.