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Events
China engages Mongolia in flurry of talks in wake of US envoy Wendy Sherman www.scmp.com
China has been trying to forge closer ties with Mongolia, holding a series of high-level exchanges between Beijing and Ulaanbaatar in recent weeks as US engagement in the region grows.
The latest effort was a foreign ministerial level meeting in Tianjin last Tuesday held at China’s invitation. The meeting came the day after Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met US deputy secretary of state Wendy Sherman, who stopped in Mongolia before meeting Wang.
Mongolia’s foreign ministry said China promised to invest in major mining, energy, agriculture, infrastructure and environment protection projects, with the aim of increasing bilateral trade to US$10 billion.
The two countries also said they would work together on pandemic control and regional security.
“Mongolia fully understands the important concerns China has over sensitive issues. Mongolia will continue with friendly policies with China, and will not participate in any mechanisms that target specific countries,” the Chinese foreign ministry said.
According to the Chinese ministry, Mongolia does not support politicisation of the search for the origins of the coronavirus, will not let any Tibet-related issues affect bilateral relations, and supports China’s hosting of the 2022 Winter Olympics.
The day before Sherman arrived in Mongolia, Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke by phone with Mongolian President Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh.
Xi said the countries shared an increasing number of common interests, and called for the China-Mongolia relationship to be strengthened by mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, adding a promise that China would buy more of its neighbour’s products.
Mongolia has called the US its “third neighbour” and “strategic partner”, and vowed to strengthen the “friendly relationship”.
After Sherman’s trip to Mongolia, Chinese Defence Minister Wei Fenghe and his Mongolian counterpart Gursed Saikhanbayar also met in Ulaanbaatar, pledging to work together on regional security.
China offers Mongolia helping hand to fight sandstorm challenge
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Chinese experts said Washington’s renewed efforts in the region meant Mongolia would have to balance its relations with the two powers.
Shi Yinhong, a foreign policy scholar from Renmin University, said that while the meeting between the Chinese and Mongolian foreign ministers could be in the interest of diminishing Sherman’s visit to Mongolia, Mongolia had traditionally been more wary of China than of Western countries like the US and Japan.
“Despite its economic ties with China, Mongolia is likely to remain wary, especially in areas of security, the economy and also in culture, religion and language,” Shi said, adding that Mongolia had not been a priority in China’s neighbourhood policies.
According to a document released by former US national security adviser Robert O’Brien this year, Mongolia has strategic significance to the US in advancing the Indo-Pacific region.
Washington wants Mongolia to “demonstrate [its] own success and the benefits [it] has accrued” through upholding democratic values.
Qi Huaigao, professor at the Institute of International Studies at Fudan University, said that while Mongolia was actively building its relationships with its “third neighbour” countries, especially the US, it remained very cautious not to pick a side between China and the US.
“Apart from building relations with its two immediate neighbours China and Russia, Mongolia is promoting a third neighbour policy to strengthen relations with countries and international organisations like the US, EU and Japan, South Korea, to extend its international space,” Qi said, “Mongolia may be a small country, but it has lofty diplomatic ambitions.
“But Mongolia is very cautious. It will not choose sides between China and Russia, and the United States.”
BY: Kinling Lo,
Kinling Lo is a China reporter covering diplomacy and society news for the Post. She joined the team in 2016 as a cadet reporter.
AND
Amber Wang is a reporter for the China desk, and focuses on Chinese politics and diplomacy. She joined the Post in 2021, and previously worked for The New York Times and Southern Metropolis Daily.
Published Date:2021-08-03
