A Multi-level Study On The Cooperation Between China And Mongolia In The New Century

After the disintegration of the Soviet Union in the 1990s,Mongolia implemented democratic reforms,no longer depending on the former Soviet Union in terms of diplomacy and gradually embarking on the road of independent diplomacy,which made the Sino-Mongolian relations be restored and developed.Since the beginning of the 21^stcentury,China and Mongolia have not only gradually strengthened their cooperation and communications in the fields of politics,economy,and culture,but have also become increasingly prominent in the vertical exchanges at the multilateral,bilateral and sub-national levels.Therefore,in the coordinate system of politics,diplomacy,economy and culture,this dissertation attempts to explore the development of Sino-Mongolian relations in a multi-level way,consisted of regional multilateral,bilateral and sub-national levels,in order to understand the reality and prospect of the development of Sino-Mongolian relations more comprehensively and deeply.Aiming at the problems in the past studies on Sino-Mongolian relations that emphasize bilateral level but neglect multilateral and sub-national levels,this dissertation mainly employs the level of analysis in international relations to carry out a vertical analysis of Sino-Mongolian relations in an attempt to make up for the deficiencies in the previous researches.Level of analysis as a product of“Behavioralism”in 1950s,Kenneth Neal Waltz attributed the cause of war between States to three images of man,state and the international system,based on which he built up his theory of Structural Realism.Afterwards,the levels of International Studies fell back,along with a growing number of international actors came into researchers'perspective,the division of levels have been diversified.Regarding the study of Sino-Mongolian relations,scholars paid more attention to the bilateral relations in the past.According to the investigation of the reality of Sino-Mongolian relations,the achievements at the multilateral and the sub-national levels are also prominent,but there is insufficient attention in theory.Consequently,based on the level of analysis in international relations,this dissertation chooses three levels,respectively regional multilateral,bilateral inter-state,and sub-national interaction,to conduct a longitudinal and systematic analysis on Sino-Mongolian relations.Chapter 2,chapter 3 and chapter 4 specifically analyze the development and problems of Sino-Mongolia relations from the three levels of region,bilateral inter-state and sub-national interaction.From the perspective of Sino-Mongolia cooperation and interaction in the multilateral frameworks,the dissertation focuses more on the interaction between the two countries in regional multilateral cooperation institutions other than the United Nations.For example,interactions in the SCO,CICA,BFA,ASEM,and other regional organizations,focus on joint cooperation on regional issues.Sino-Mongolian cooperation in the Tumen River mechanism,China-Mongolia-Russia Economic Corridor and other sub-regional multilateral cooperation focus on mini-lateral cooperation based on geography.This multilateral cooperation has become an indispensable aspect of Sino-Mongolian relations.Since the new century,a prominent feature of the development of Sino-Mongolia relations is that the country's initiative has been significantly enhanced,especially after Mongolia's democratic reform,its diplomatic independence has been strengthened,injecting driving force to the development of Sino-Mongolian relations.The bilateral relations have many characteristics,which is firstly manifested in terms of geopolitics for the long borders and the historical origins,and secondly in terms of the development process of their political relations from stagnation and even confrontation,to comprehensive strategic partnership,an urgent need for cooperation in economy and ethnic and religious ties and differences in culture.Judging from the sub-national cooperation between China and Mongolia is a weak point of previous research,but it is becoming more and more prominent in the practice.The long border between China and Mongolia provides convenient conditions for the development of cross-border exchanges,especially after China proposing the“Belt and Road”initiative,the connectivity in the border areas becomes increasingly active,which will bring enormous potential for the communication and cooperation among the border cities and ports of the two countries.Although China and Mongolia have made great achievements in cooperation at the regional,inter-state and sub-national levels,there are still many problems.The problems,such as historical memory and mutual trust deficiency,the power asymmetry of the two countries,the“third neighbor”policy,the unstable development of Mongolia,and the difficulty of religious and cultural exchanges,need to be gradually resolved in the future development of Sino-Mongolian relations.Chapter 5 summarizes and briefly evaluates the analysis on the three levels of Sino-Mongolian cooperation,then looks forward to the future development of bilateral relationship.In general,the three levels of the cooperation and development of the relationship between China and Mongolia are interconnected rather than separate.From the analysis on the multi-level development of the relations between the two countries,we can see that many issues restricted the bilateral cooperation are problems in the process of developing,which can be resolved through communication and negotiation.In the context of the profound changes in the world,China and Mongolia shall be able to work together to deal with the common challenges,to gain opportunities and benefit from multi-level cooperation between the two countries,if they implement the“Belt and Road”initiative and obey the idea of“a community of shared future for mankind”.This will facilitate a healthy and steady development of Sino-Mongolian relations.In a word,this dissertation focuses on the vertical level of analysis,incorporating the research in the fields of politics,economy and culture,in order to innovate in research methods and perspectives,also to highlight the academic frontier in the study on Sino-Mongolian relations.