Why Mongolia sits between two giants

Inner and Outer Mongolia

In May 1691 the Qing emperor Kangxi met the main Khalkha chiefs at Dolonnur, and they accepted Manchu overlordship in return for protection against the Dzungar.^[7] Russia and the Qing then divided the Mongol lands they had conquered between them: the Treaty of Kyakhta of 1727 set the border between the parts of Mongolia that China controlled and the parts Russia controlled.^[7][2]

In the 1750s Manchu rule split Mongolia into two. The southern provinces, known as Inner Mongolia, were virtually absorbed into China, while the northern lands, Outer Mongolia, were treated as an “outside subordinate” and largely left alone.^[7] Outer Mongolia’s Qing presence came down to a resident at Urga (today’s Ulaanbaatar) and military governors at Hovd and Uliastay.^[2]

By the early 20th century Han Chinese settlers were moving north onto Mongol pastures, and the line between Outer Mongolia and Inner Mongolia and Manchuria had blurred.^[2]

Breaking away, 1911–1921

In July 1911 Mongol princes and lamas met at Urga to protest against Chinese settlement, and some asked Russia for help.^[2][3] On 1 December 1911, as the Qing dynasty collapsed, Outer Mongolia in effect declared independence, arguing that its loyalty had been to the Manchus, not to China. On 28 December the eighth Jebtsundamba Khutuktu, the Living Buddha of Urga, became the Bogd Khan, or holy ruler, of a theocratic government.^[3][2]

Mongolia turned to Russia as a counterweight. An agreement signed at Urga on 3 November 1912 had Russia help Mongolia keep its autonomy and keep Chinese troops and settlers out.^[2] In a declaration of 5 November 1913, Russia recognised that Outer Mongolia was under China’s suzerainty, or overlordship, and China recognised Outer Mongolia’s autonomy. The two sides admitted there were no detailed maps and left the exact borders for later talks.^[2]

A three-way agreement signed at Kyakhta in 1915 confirmed the arrangement and described autonomous Outer Mongolia as bounded by Inner Mongolia on the south and Xinjiang on the south-west. It called for a commission to mark the line within two years, but none was ever set up.^[2] A Mongolian diplomat later wrote that Mongolia had to settle for a vague autonomy imposed by its two neighbours, “with some Mongolian territories going to neighbours.”^[1]

A pan-Mongol conference at Chita in 1919 planned a state uniting Outer Mongolia, Inner Mongolia and Buryatia, but Outer Mongolia refused to join its provisional government and the movement failed.^[3] In October 1919 a Chinese army occupied Urga, and the Bogd Khan’s government acknowledged Chinese sovereignty.^[3]

“Inasmuch as there are no detailed maps of Mongolia and as the boundaries of the administrative divisions of this country are uncertain, it is agreed that the exact boundaries of Outer Mongolia … shall be the subject of … subsequent conferences”^[2]

Under Moscow’s wing

In July 1921 a combined Mongolian and Soviet force defeated the Chinese and anti-Bolshevik Russian troops holding Outer Mongolia, and a communist-controlled provisional government took power.^[2] An agreement signed in Moscow on 5 November 1921 recognised the new government. It also provided for the self-determination of Tannu Tuva, a region in north-western Mongolia that had been a Russian protectorate from 1914 to 1917.^[4]

After the Bogd Khan died in May 1924, a new constitution made the country the Mongolian People’s Republic, and the capital was renamed Ulaanbaatar, “Red Hero”.^[4] The Soviet Union recognised China’s sovereignty over Outer Mongolia in 1924 and again in 1936, but the US Geographer judged the effect “more cosmetic than real”.^[2]

Tuva took a separate path. In 1944 the Soviet Union annexed it. At 170,500 km², it was the largest of the Soviet Union’s territorial acquisitions.^[8]

A vote and a treaty

At Yalta in February 1945 the Soviet Union made it a condition of entering the war against Japan that “the status quo in Outer Mongolia (the Mongolian People’s Republic) shall be preserved,” and the US and Britain agreed.^[2] Mongolia declared war on Japan on 10 August 1945, and its army joined Soviet troops invading Inner Mongolia and Manchuria.^[5]

In a treaty with the Soviet Union on 14 August 1945, China agreed to recognise Mongolia’s independence within its “existing boundary” if a plebiscite confirmed it. In a referendum on 20 October, 100% of voters chose independence, and China recognised Mongolia in January 1946.^[5] Inner Mongolia stayed in China, where it is now the Nei Monggol Autonomous Region.^[5][9]

Later in 1946 the Republic of China used a border incident to go back on its recognition. Mongolia’s applications to join the UN were rejected several times, with objections from the Republic of China and Western powers, until 1961.^[1] In August 1947 China told the UN Security Council that Mongolian troops had pushed 100 km into China around the Baytik Mountains, where the two sides clashed.^[2]

The southern border was finally agreed with the People’s Republic of China in December 1962 and marked in 1964 with 639 pillars over 4,673 km. The US Geographer judged that the treaty favoured the traditional Mongolian version of the line.^[2] In Taiwan, the Republic of China’s government changed its rules in January 2002 so that Mongolia was no longer treated as part of the mainland; Mongolians now needed visas like other foreigners.^[10]

Between two giants today

From the early 1960s until 1989 Mongolia was firmly aligned with the Soviet Union, and Soviet troops were stationed there until 1992.^[1] After the Cold War it set out to keep balanced relations with both neighbours and to stay out of disputes between them. In 1992 it declared its territory a nuclear-weapon-free zone.^[1]

It also looked further afield. The term “third neighbour” is usually traced to US Secretary of State James Baker’s visit in August 1990.^[6] Mongolia’s Foreign Policy Concept, approved by parliament on 10 February 2011, says that within the “Third Neighbor” policy Mongolia will expand partnerships with countries such as the United States, Japan, the European Union, India, South Korea and Turkey.^[6]