go to mongolia
2024-09-04
한어Русский языкEnglishFrançaisIndonesianSanskrit日本語DeutschPortuguêsΕλληνικάespañolItalianoSuomalainenLatina
in a little over a month, senior officials from the united states, russia and china visited mongolia one after another.
text | haishangke
russian president vladimir putin appeared in ulaanbaatar on september 3, and mongolian president khurelsukh held a ceremony to welcome putin that afternoon.
khurelsukh (2nd from left) welcomes putin's visit
the so-called mongolia is a signatory to the rome statute, so when putin appeared in mongolia, mongolia should send putin to the international criminal court in the hague in accordance with the agreement - the facts have proved that this is no longer possible.
on september 3, at the regular press conference of the ministry of foreign affairs, foreign ministry spokesperson mao ning announced that "at the invitation of the russian federation and mongolian governments, chinese vice president han zheng will visit mongolia from september 4 to 8 to attend the 9th eastern economic forum in vladivostok, russia." if we look back at the visit of us secretary of state blinken to mongolia on august 1, we can see that -
in a little over a month, senior officials from the united states, russia and china visited mongolia one after another.
does this highlight mongolia's recent rise in geopolitical importance?
hai shu feels that, to some extent, china, russia and the united states are indeed paying more and more attention to developing relations with mongolia. it cannot be said that the successive visits to mongolia are a coincidence, but specific issues do require specific analysis.
01
first, let's look at putin's visit to mongolia. one of the highlights is of course that he is visiting a country that is a signatory to the rome statute.it turns out that even though mongolia has signed the rome statute, it still extended an invitation to putin and welcomed him to visit mongolia.
faced with the visit of the head of state of its huge neighbor directly to the north, mongolia did not follow the advice of ukraine.
this has annoyed ukraine, which believes that mongolia's move is a "major blow to the international criminal court." indeed, putin's previous visits to china, belarus, kazakhstan, north korea, vietnam, azerbaijan, iran, the united arab emirates, saudi arabia, etc. did not involve the issue of the rome statute. after all, these countries, including china, have not signed the rome statute. in fact, if putin visits the united states, britain, and france tomorrow, such issues will not be involved. after all, none of the five permanent members of the united nations security council have signed the rome statute.
because the international criminal court has also done things against the united states, it has also been sanctioned by the united states.
last year, russia also included the president of the international criminal court, peter hovmansky, on its wanted list.
"pyotr joseph hovmanski is a pole. he is wanted under the provisions of the criminal code of the russian federation," xinhua news agency quoted tass as saying.
ukrainian president volodymyr zelensky meets with international criminal court president peter hovmansky (left) in the hague on may 4, 2023
putting aside how the international criminal court and mongolia will coordinate, putin's visit to mongolia, in addition to his visit to ulaanbaatar to discuss areas of cooperation between the two countries, including industry, agriculture, energy and transportation, also included participation in the 85th anniversary commemoration of the battle of the khalsingol river. the so-called battle of the khalsingol river is also known as the battle of nomonhan. in those days, zhukov commanded the soviet-mongolian coalition forces to defeat the arrogant japanese kwantung army. in fact, it hindered japan's plan to move westward from the mongolian plateau and form a situation of attacking the soviet union from both sides with nazi germany.
to a large extent, this battle also changed the situation of world war ii.
now, putin went to commemorate the event in a high-profile manner, which obviously had some implications!
putin arrived in mongolia on september 2, and mongolian foreign minister battsetseg greeted him at the airport
02
reference news quoted the russian satellite news agency as saying that after putin's visit to mongolia, he will continue his trip to the far east and go to vladivostok to attend the eastern economic forum.
according to the schedule announced by the chinese side, han zheng will travel to vladivostok, russia from september 4 to 8 to attend the 9th eastern economic forum and visit mongolia.
mao ning answered questions from a people's daily reporter at a press conference of the ministry of foreign affairs:
china looks forward to working with russia to implement the consensus reached by the two heads of state through this visit, deepen china-russia "northeast-far east" cooperation, and jointly promote development in the region.
mao ning presided over the ministry of foreign affairs' regular press conference on september 3
regarding the prospects of han zheng's visit to mongolia, mao ning said:
china and mongolia are friendly neighbors connected by mountains and rivers. this year marks the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between china and mongolia, the 30th anniversary of the signing of the treaty of friendship and cooperation, and the 10th anniversary of the establishment of a comprehensive strategic partnership. vice president han zheng will visit mongolia at the invitation of the mongolian leader and have in-depth discussions with mongolian leaders on china-mongolia relations and issues of common concern. china is willing to work with mongolia to enhance friendship and mutual trust, deepen mutually beneficial cooperation, and promote the sustained, stable and healthy development of china-mongolia relations under the guidance of the important consensus reached by the two heads of state.
it has to be said that mongolia and russia are both china's northern neighbors. the friendship and common development of china, russia and mongolia are conducive to promoting regional cooperation and jointly promoting regional development. in this case, it is worth noting the attitudes of russia and mongolia.
before arriving in mongolia, putin said in an open class "talk about important things" at the no. 20 middle school in kyzyl that russians are very interested in learning chinese, and that some of his own family members are fluent in mandarin.
russian president vladimir putin attends an open class at kyzyl no. 20 middle school
this certainly shows putin's emphasis on chinese. in fact, it also shows russia's emphasis on economic and trade cooperation with eastern countries and its yearning for the future.
03
at this moment, i recall blinken’s visit to mongolia a month ago, in which the main focus was on the fact that the new government of mongolia had just been formed. with the mentality of the united states wanting to become mongolia’s “third neighbor”, the secretary of state went to ulaanbaatar for the first time in eight years.
coincidentally, blinken also mentioned mongolia's energy cooperation with the united states, as well as economic and trade relations, and also mentioned mongolia's english education and strengthening of bilateral relations.
in hai shu's opinion, it is the right of the united states to develop relations with mongolia. however, when russia and ukraine are at war, the united states is not just promoting the "u.s.-mongolia english excellence program" by going to mongolia, russia's neighbor.
mongolian prime minister oyun-erdene presented a horse to us secretary of state blinken and took a selfie
at that time, an expert mentioned that "the implementation of mongolia's great power balancing diplomacy has also entered a more complex internal and external environment." the expert also mentioned that "in the future, how to balance relations with neighboring countries and the west, and how to avoid pressure and impact from the geopolitical game of great powers will test the political wisdom of mongolia's new government."
at present, it seems that the wisdom of mongolia's new government is showing. we may as well wait and see.
