On The Changes Of Outer Mongolia's Standing From International Treaties

The independence of Outer Mongolia was not only a vital incident in the modern history of international relations, but also an important event of Sino-foreign relations in the 20th century. In history, Outer Mongolia was once a part of China. In 1728, Chinese government and tsarist Russia government concluded the Qiaketu Treaty, which had officially proclaimed that Outer Mongolia belonged to China. However, in the latter half of 19th century, China suffered terrible invasions from western countries, and its territorial integrity had been disrupted constantly. By signing a series of unequal treaties, such as Tianjin Treaty, Peking Treaty, etc, tsarist Russia progressively snatched lots of illegal benefits from Outer Mongolia, and gradually destroyed China's ownership of Outer Mongolia. At the same time, Japan and Russia concluded a secret treaty to carve up China's northeast part, which led to Russia's monopolization to Outer Mongolia. After the October Revolution, Russia Troops began to garrison in Outer Mongolia. In order to solve the Outer Mongolia problem, Chinese government made several representations with the Soviet Union, and signed Sino-Russian Basic Entente, which repeated that Outer Mongolia was a part of China. In 1945, the Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship and Alliance was concluded. In this treaty, China agreed to accept Outer Mongolia's independence. After the birth of New China, Chinese government showed a pragmatic attitude to the Outer Mongolia problem. Since the independence of Outer Mongolia had become an accomplished fact yet, and the Sino-Mongolia diplomatic relations had been established already, New China admitted its independence in public, and proclaimed this kind of attitude in the Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship, Alliance and Mutual Assistance in 1950. Since then, the Outer Mongolia problem which had disturbed China for a long time was settled completely.By studying the history of Outer Mongolia's development, it's easy for us to find that its political standing has changed a lot during hundreds of years, and the reasons for these changes are base in the international treaties that concluded between China and other countries. From these treaties, no matter equal or not, we can find the changes of China's national strength. The stronger our national strength was, the tighter our control would be. When China was strong, the government could keep Outer Mongolia from being aggressed. While China was relatively weaker, the government would be forced to conclude some unequal treaties with western countries, and give up some political as well as economical benefits. And what's more, when the control was not strong enough, people in Outer Mongolia were easily to be cheated and instigated by other countries like Russia, and finally went on a way to fight for there independence. From the typical example of Outer Mongolia, it's not hard for us to draw a conclusion: Political corruption and decline of national strength led to the emergence of unequal treaties, unequal treaties were important reasons for China's terrible experience. Because it was these treaties that did harm to China's territorial integrity, and made China become a semi-colonial, semi-feudal society. So we should draw some lessons from history that only when we make effort to construct our country, let it be powerful and prosperous, can we defend it to be disturbed by others, and stand steadily among all the countries.