|
MongoliaChina
Mongolian-Chinese relations historically have suffered
because of China's claims to "lost territory" and Mongolia's fear
of China's expansion because of overpopulation. Since 1984
improvement in Mongolian relations with China has lagged behind
the more rapid advances in Sino-Soviet relations. An early
indication of lessening of tensions, however, came in July 1984
when Ulaanbaatar sent to Beijing a delegation led by its deputy
foreign minister, the first such visit in several years. The
Mongolian representative met with China's minister of foreign
affairs to discuss developing bilateral economic, cultural,
trade, and technical relations. Also, the officials signed a
document verifying the first joint inspection of the MongolianChinese border. The warming atmosphere continued with the signing
of an agreement on civil aviation in December 1985, followed by
the resumption of direct Beijing-Ulaanbaatar air service in June
1986. A five-year agreement increasing levels of trade was signed
in April 1986.
Batmonh gave official sanction to improvements in MongolianChinese relations in his address to the May 1986 Nineteenth
Congress. Displaying caution and restraint, Batmonh declared that
Mongolia was pursuing consistently its "scrupulous policy" of
normalizing relations with China, with the qualification that the
relationship should be based on equality and "non-interference in
another's internal affairs." This evident uncertainty concerning
national security was reflected in Mongolian press statements,
just prior to Gorbachev's July 1986 address that announced Soviet
troop withdrawals were under consideration. The press stressed
that the disposition of Soviet troops stationed in Mongolia was
an internal matter between Mongolia and the Soviet Union, and
that it was not a subject for discussion during any Sino-Soviet
consultations. An article appearing in the press shortly after
Gorbachev's speech captured the Mongolian sentiment that "no
country which borders on China feels secure."
Batmonh's initiatives were followed by an August 1986 visit
to Mongolia of a vice foreign minister described as the highestranking Chinese official to visit Mongolia in twenty years. This
important meeting resulted in the signing of a consular
agreement, the first since the establishment of diplomatic
relations between the countries in 1949. This agreement was
followed in 1987 by several key visits and events: a high-level
delegation from China's legislative body, the National People's
Congress, visited Mongolia in June; this visit was reciprocated
in September 1988 by a delegation from the People's Great Hural,
the first since 1960; a scientific and technical cooperative
program for the 1987 to 1988 period was ratified in July; and a
major Mongolian friendship delegation visited China in September
1987--reciprocated by a Chinese friendship delegation that went
to Mongolia in July 1988.
Other important points of discussion at the August 1986
meeting reportedly were "certain international issues of common
concern." Japanese press reports indicated that the Mongolians
had rejected a Chinese request at the meeting that all Soviet
troops be withdrawn from Mongolia. In China's view, the presence
of Soviet troops in Mongolia was a key "obstacle" to
normalization of relations between China and the Soviet Union.
China, maintaining that only a total troop withdrawal would be
satisfactory, refused to back down from this position. From the
Chinese perspective, Mongolia once had been under China's
domination; it was therefore particularly galling that Soviet
troops were now massed in that area and were directed against
China.
In 1988 security concerns and Mongolia's image as an
independent country were especially visible in its foreign policy
vis-à-vis China. The Mongolian minister of foreign affairs
remarked in November that significant progress had been made in
Mongolian-Chinese relations, but he stressed that any further
Soviet withdrawals from Mongolia were a matter for deliberation
by the Mongolian government. Mongolia's message was that this was
not a unilateral Soviet issue. Following Gorbachev's UN address
in December, Mongolia announced that Soviet troop withdrawals had
been set in accordance with an agreement reached between Mongolia
and the Soviet Union and had resulted from "the positive shift
that had occurred in Asia and on the international arena as a
whole." Bilateral cooperation between Mongolia and China on
security issues had advanced to the point that on November 28,
1988, a treaty on a border control system was signed in Beijing.
The Chinese side described the purpose of the treaty as being to
maintain stability in the border areas.
The stationing of Soviet troops on Mongolia's border with
China remained a major impediment both to improved Sino-Soviet
relations and to Mongolian-Chinese relations. Nevertheless, by
early 1989 Soviet assurances that Mongolian security would not be
compromised, complemented by Mongolia's new relationship with the
United States and enhanced international status, apparently
allowed Mongolia's leaders to accept additional Soviet efforts to
remove the Chinese "obstacle" of border troops. Sino-Soviet
consultations, in preparation for the May 1989 summit between
Gorbachev and Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping resulted in the
retention of Soviet troops in Mongolia--a requirement, no doubt
of Mongolia--although a 75 percent force reduction was to occur
at some unspecified time in the future. Whether this action would
satisfy China fully was still unclear in mid-1989. What was clear
was that Mongolia's status would change significantly, with a
much reduced level of protection from the Soviet Union. In
addition, with increasing Chinese influence and involvement in
Mongolia, Soviet motivation for providing larger aid and
assistance packages might be diminished.
Foreign observers assumed that the agenda of the May 1989
Sino-Soviet summit was a key subject for discussion during
Minister of Foreign Affairs Tserenpiliin Gombosuren's eight-day
visit to Beijing, beginning in late March. With Sino-Soviet
relations showing significant improvement, and the normalization
of Mongolian-Chinese relations being in practice a by-product of
these developments, the expansion of Mongolian-Chinese relations
might be expected to accelerate. The Beijing meeting of foreign
ministers, the first in twenty-seven years, resulted in agreement
to establish a joint commission on cooperation in economy, trade,
and science and technology; on allowing visa-free travel between
the two countries; and on restoring a Mongolian consulate general
in China's Nei Monggol Autonomous Region
(Inner Mongolia--see Glossary).
Data as of June 1989
|
