On December 25, 1991, Gorbachev announced his formal resignation as president of the Soviet Union and handed over control of nuclear weapons to Yeltsin, president of Russia.
Since then, the former great power of the Soviet Union has officially disintegrated, replaced by fifteen completely new countries.
The collapse of the Soviet Union
The collapse of the Soviet Union had an extremely significant impact on the whole world.
For the people of the former Soviet Union, the collapse of the Soviet Union may have brought a certain degree of freedom, but it is undeniable that the collapse of the Soviet Union also brought more poverty and backwardness. Those countries that have split up have to spend more time and energy to promote their own development.
For Japan and European countries, the collapse of the Soviet Union gave them more room for development. During the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, european countries and Japan were under its shadow, and it was difficult to achieve rapid development. The collapse of the Soviet Union finally gave them the opportunity to break out of the shackles.
For the United States, the collapse of the Soviet Union left them with one less formidable opponent. Without the constraints of the Soviet Union, the status of the United States as a global hegemon could not be shaken in a short period of time.
For China, the impact of the collapse of the Soviet Union is even more profound.
The Soviet Union was once an example for China to learn from, and although there were some discords later, their influence on us should not be underestimated.
We regret the disintegration of a socialist country and are even more firm in the correctness of the road of sinification of Marxism.
At the same time, another thing is in front of us. Tsarist Russia once usurped large areas of our land, and now that the Soviet Union has collapsed, it is probably the most appropriate time for us to reclaim our encroached land.
Of those encroached upon, the largest area is the largest
Outer Mongolia
finish.
Such a great opportunity lies ahead of us, but we have not chosen to take back Outer Mongolia.
Why didn't we take this opportunity to reclaim Outer Mongolia? What are some of the hidden reasons for this? How many advantages and disadvantages are there in recovering Outer Mongolia?
Let's talk about why China didn't recover Outer Mongolia in the end.
Independence of Outer Mongolia
Before we talk about the reasons why China did not recover Outer Mongolia, we must first understand how Outer Mongolia became independent. At the beginning of the 13th century, Genghis Khan unified the Mongol tribes, and since then we have had more and more exchanges with mongolia. Until the Time of the Qing Dynasty, the alliance between Mongol tribes and Manchu rulers gradually became
A vassal of the Qing Dynasty.
During the Qing Dynasty, the Mongol tribes were divided into two parts: Inner Mongolia and Outer Mongolia.
At the beginning of the 16th century, Tsarist Russia began to have contacts with Outer Mongolia. After more than 100 years of exchanges, Tsarist Russia and Outer Mongolia have established good relations.
In 1727, Czarist Russia took advantage of the weakness and incompetence of the Qing government to sign many unequal treaties with it, and formally obtained the right to trade in Outer Mongolia.
After the end of the First Opium War, China became a fragrant feast that all the great powers wanted to divide, and Tsarist Russia naturally did not easily let go of this piece of fat meat.
In 1854, Tsarist Russia further demanded that the Chinese government should not extend the rights of the new government to Outer Mongolia even if the regime changed, but that it should be up to Tsarist Russia to ensure the security of Outer Mongolia.
This demand had already disguised the separation of Outer Mongolia from Chinese control. However, at that time, the Qing government was at its weakest, and under the threat of force from Britain and France, the Qing government had no more energy to pay attention to Outer Mongolia.
Just when the Qing government had no time to take care of him, Tsarist Russia had been vigorously supporting Outer Mongolia.
The people of Outer Mongolia
As a result of the many unequal treaties signed with the Qing government, Tsarist Russia had more and more rights in Outer Mongolia. Through these rights, they continued to promote the economic, cultural, and even political development of Outer Mongolia.
Outer Mongolia developed visibly with the help of Tsarist Russia, and its ambitions grew. Is a weak dependency still worth clinging to? With the continuous development of The Outer Mongolia region, there are gradually voices calling for independence here.
In 1911, Dadorzi, the founder of Outer Mongolia's independence, sent an envoy to Tsarist Russia, hoping to gain the support of Tsarist Russia.
Naturally, the Tsarist Russia has no objection to this, and they would like China to become more and more chaotic, so that they can get more benefits from it. In this way, under the support of Tsarist Russia and the increasing weakness of the Qing government,
On November 30, 1911, the people of Outer Mongolia seized power in Outer Mongolia with the help of Tsarist troops.
In December of the same year, the princes and lamas of the various ministries in mongolia declared independence. They established a new emperor, no longer recognizing the Qing government's rule over them, and formally established it
"Greater Mongolia".
After the establishment of the Great Mongol State, it rapidly expanded its territory to the outside world, and controlled the rest of the Mongol ministries that had not yet declared independence under its jurisdiction.
The original Qing Dynasty officials in the jurisdiction were expelled, and ordinary people with Qing Dynasty status were even exterminated, leaving no one behind.
In 1911
Wuchang Uprising
Outbreak, the feudal rule of the Qing Dynasty was overthrown along with his cowardice. The newly formed military junta of the Republic of China was reluctant to recognize the independence of Outer Mongolia. However, although the military government of the Republic of China did not recognize the independence of Outer Mongolia, it did not take any tough measures because of internal contradictions and Yuan Shikai's weakness.
Even in 1913, the Sino-Russian Declaration Document was signed.
Yuan Shikai Beiyang Government
In this document, signed by the Beiyang government, ruled by Yuan Shikai, China made great concessions to the rule of Outer Mongolia, not only giving up the right to send garrisons and officials in Outer Mongolia, but also recognizing the autonomy of Outer Mongolia.
Since then, Outer Mongolia has increasingly become free from Chinese rule. Although they were ostensibly autonomous, they inevitably gradually became vassals of Tsarist Russia.
In 1917, the October Revolution broke out in Tsarist Russia
The original Tsarist Russia was overthrown by the Soviet government, but unfortunately,
The Soviet government also supported the independence of Outer Mongolia.
The Soviet government considered Outer Mongolia to be an independent state and therefore it was not up to them to decide its ownership. Moreover, the Soviet government hoped to establish good diplomatic relations with Greater Mongolia. After the establishment of the Soviet government, the policy towards Outer Mongolia changed,
Outer Mongolia will no longer receive the benefits they once had, and will even be oppressed to a certain extent.
Gradually, there were voices of hope for a return within Outer Mongolia.
Although some people hoped to return, China at that time was still in a situation of internal and external difficulties, and more people in Outer Mongolia still hoped to find a new way out on their own. So people in Inner Mongolia began to look for a new future in the cracks. At this time, China is in deep water.
Since the overthrow of the Qing government, China has been in a state of relative turmoil.
Warlords are fighting, factions are falling, and wars are constantly going on.
Japan was eager to move, and finally launched the 918 Incident. In the Lugou Bridge incident, China entered the stage of the all-people war of resistance.
During this period, the Chinese government has been reluctant to recognize the independence of Outer Mongolia, but because China itself is still in a state of uncertainty and its control over Outer Mongolia is very insufficient, Outer Mongolia has been in a state of relative independence.
This state of affairs continued until then
In 1945.
In 1945, it was the end of the War of Resistance Against Japan. Although Japan has been slightly embarrassed by the reason of opening up a large-scale battlefield, it is still difficult for China to completely expel Japan. Faced with such a situation, the National Government began to seek more external support.
The first to ask for help were the three great powers of the United States, Britain and the Soviet Union.
Although we are all all allies in the same position, other countries are unlikely to help casually.
In order to drive Japan out of China at an early date, the Nationalist government finally had to agree to the "proposal" of Britain, the United States, and the Soviet Union.
Let the people of Outer Mongolia hold a referendum to determine the independence of Outer Mongolia.
Decades later, people in Outer Mongolia have had little emotional connection with China, and the results of this referendum are self-evident.
The number of people who voted reached 98% of the total number of people in Outer Mongolia, while the number of votes in support of independence was as high as 97%.
Faced with such a vote, the National Government was also helpless. They knew that this would bring resentment among the people at home, but in order to get help from Britain, the United States and the Soviet Union, they had to accept such an outcome. This is the recognition of the public statement of the legitimate government of China, although there is a lot of helplessness and a lot of opposition from the people.
But Outer Mongolia did indeed become an independent state recognized by its state of origin.
Outer Mongolians
It is worth mentioning that
The Nationalist government recognized the independence of Outer Mongolia in 1946, but when it retired to Taiwan in 1953, it said that it would no longer recognize the Mongolian People's Republic.
It's always a bit of a shame to think about.
The independence of Outer Mongolia is a humiliating history for us, but even when the Soviet Union was too busy to take care of itself, we did not take the opportunity to take back Outer Mongolia. What's the implication of this? Let's take a brief look.
Influence of Outer Mongolia
The first thing to say is the influence from Outer Mongolia. Since Outer Mongolia has been recognized as independent, the term "Mongolia" will be replaced by "Mongolia" below.
There are two main reasons for this.
First, because Mongolia's economic development is relatively slow, even if it is to recover this territory, there will be no practical benefit; second, because Mongolia is already an independent country, and their people are not necessarily willing to accept our recovery.
First, let's talk about the first reason:
Economic problems in Mongolia.
45 years have passed, from 1946, when the Chinese government officially recognized the independence of Outer Mongolia, to the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
China has evolved from a backward and beaten country to a country that is no longer easily underestimated. Since the reform and opening up, China's economy has also developed greatly, GDP has doubled several times, and the quality of life of the people has steadily improved.
In contrast, Mongolia' economic development is very slow. Mongolia's slow economic development is mainly affected by the topography.
Mongolia is located inland, and the natural environment is mostly desert Gobi, which is naturally not suitable for the development of agriculture. Coupled with the fact that the Mongolian region has historically been mostly nomadic, the most habitual way of life since ancient times is grazing. Therefore, animal husbandry naturally became the mainstay of Mongolia's economy.
In addition to animal husbandry, Mongolia's mining industry is also relatively developed, but because mining technology is not advanced enough, the income that mining industry can bring is not considerable.
Animal husbandry was a relatively low-end industry at that time, and its income was naturally not too high. If this is the case for the pillar industries, the situation of other industries will naturally not be better, so the income of the entire country in Mongolia is relatively low.
In 1991, Mongolia's GDP was around 2.3 billion, while the GDP of Inner Mongolia alone reached 50 billion.
A view of Outer Mongolia
The fact that a country's GDP was only one-half of that of one province shows that mongolia's economic situation at that time was not very good.
Is such a country with such a backward economic foundation worth our efforts to recover?
If we forcibly recover the lands of Mongolia, then we will have to face one
Far poorer areas than we are.
As a unified country, we naturally can't watch the people there go on poverty like this, so we have to spend more energy to help them develop their economies. The effort involved in this is not something we can easily imagine.
And if we give up the recovery of Mongolia, then Mongolia is just a neighbor.
For a poor neighbor, helping them is the love, not helping them is the duty, then we have a lot of choice.
Mongolia cannot help us economically, so what about resources?
As mentioned earlier, Mongolia's Dogobi Desert, because of its inland location, is thousands of miles away from the sea. To put it bluntly,
We basically have the terrain and resources they have, and they don't have any marine resources that we need.
From this point of view, the recovery of Mongolia does not have any substantial benefits for us, but on the contrary, it gives us a lot more responsibility, so in this respect the recovery of Mongolia is somewhat more than worth the loss.
Let's talk about that
The problem of the Mongolian people.
Mongolia has been formally independent for 45 years, and even as early as 1911, it had already achieved de facto independence.
Eighty years have passed, and the people of Mongolia have changed for a generation or two. A new generation of Mongolian people, who have lived in an independent Mongolia since birth, will not think that our recovery is justified. Instead, they will think that we are foreign enemies to destroy their country.
Shepherd children in Outer Mongolia
In the face of such a country, it is almost impossible to recover peacefully, so if we want to recover Mongolia, we have to use force.
Fourteen years of the War of Resistance Against Japan has taught us how repulsive the aggressors are, so that even if we have enough reasons, we cannot take on such a role.
In addition to affecting the people of Mongolia, the people of Inner Mongolia will also be affected to a certain extent.
After all, the people of Mongolia and the people of Inner Mongolia belong to the same ethnic group, and if we recover Mongolia by force, it will also affect the relationship with the people of Inner Mongolia to a certain extent.
Our ethnic policy has always been to hope that the people of all ethnic groups can unite and work together, so naturally we cannot affect the already stable domestic ethnic relations in order to recover the land that was once there.
Judging from the above two points, the recovery of Mongolia will not only not bring us a little benefit, but will also pay a small price, then the recovery of this lost land will be meaningless.
Having said that Mongolia's influence in this matter, let us briefly understand the role of Russia in this matter.
Russian influence
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the most powerful of the splintered countries was Russia. Russia does not want us to regain Mongolia for two reasons.
First of all, Mongolia is sandwiched between China and Russia, which is a buffer area. With Mongolia present, we cannot directly threaten Russia's security.
If we regain Mongolia, Russia will inevitably have cold concerns, so naturally they cannot ignore our efforts to recover Mongolia. As mentioned earlier, if we want to recover Mongolia, we will inevitably use force. Although China in 1991 already had strength that cannot be underestimated, russia's strength is also not to be underestimated.
Although the collapse of the Soviet Union affected Russia,
But most of the Soviet Union's decades of heritage went to Russia, and all kinds of armed forces and nuclear weapons were in Russia's hands
。
Russian weapons
Although there will inevitably be a moment of chaos in Russia because of the collapse of the Soviet Union, once we have a move to recover Mongolia by force, Russia will certainly try its best to draw out manpower against us. For Russia, what they are most worried about is the threat from neighboring countries.
Among his neighboring countries, the biggest threat to him may still be China.
If China decides to recover Mongolia, it will inevitably not demand that Russia return other encroached lands, which is a very unfavorable demand for Russia, so they must stop China's move before China recovers Mongolia.
Therefore, whether from a historical point of view or from a cold lip service, Russia cannot allow us to recover Mongolia. In addition to the fear that our reconquest of Mongolia poses a threat to them, Russia has another important reason to prevent us from recovering Mongolia -
Trans-Siberian Railway
Known as the "spine" of Russia, the Trans-Siberian Railway is a very important railway connecting the Russian capital, Europe and Asia.
The Trans-Siberian Railway led to the economic development of the Siberian region, connecting the whole territory of Russia closely. Both strategically and economically, the Trans-Siberian Railway is indispensable to Russia.
However, it was this railway, which was extremely important to Russia, that passed through Mongolia.
When part of the railway was in Mongolia's hands, Russia had enough strength to keep Mongolia from posing any threat to him. But if part of the railway is controlled by China, Russia may not be able to fully control the railway.
Its own economic lifeline is in the hands of other great powers, presumably unable to sleep peacefully day and night. Therefore, from this point of view alone, Russia will definitely not let us recover Mongolia smoothly.
If we forcibly retake Mongolia, we will have to confront Russia. The two great powers, whose military strength is not weak and both hold nuclear weapons, will naturally not fight easily, but the seeds of suspicion will be in the hearts of the two countries.
We and Russia can be called neighbors, and mutual suspicion is very unfavorable to future development, so in order to better progress and develop together with Russia, we cannot easily choose to recover Mongolia.
From the current point of view, our decision at that time was also very wise. It is also worthwhile to give up a lost land that has no sense of belonging and gain a very reliable ally. Now, because of russia's support, we have more confidence when facing European and American countries.
Imagine if we had chosen Mongolia and now had to face both european and American pressures and Russia, and our situation would undoubtedly have been more difficult.
The influence of international public opinion
In addition to influence from Mongolia and Russia,
and
Shaping the international image
It is also a very important factor for us to abandon the recovery of Mongolia.
When Outer Mongolia became independent, it was the time when China's overall strength was the weakest and the national environment was the most chaotic, but no matter what the state of China was at that time.
The only people who recognized the independence of Outer Mongolia were the legitimate governments of China at that time.
Although the Nationalist government retreated to Taiwan only four years after recognizing the independence of Outer Mongolia, in the eyes of other countries, it was a decision made by the Chinese government.
The people of Outer Mongolia in 1913
If we choose to recover Mongolia now, it will be equivalent to denying our own decision-making, which will undoubtedly affect our international image and trigger more negative international public opinion.
From the perspective of other countries, we and Japan have been in constant disputes over the ownership of the Diaoyu Islands, and the Philippines has many disagreements on the South China Sea issue, and there are also quite a few land disputes with India. If we cling to the issue of Outer Mongolia again, it is inevitable that other countries will think that we are scheming and difficult to get along with.
Leaving aside the land dispute, after the reform and opening up, we have paid countless sweats to gain a firm foothold in the forest of the world's nations and to cooperate with other countries on an equal footing. If we choose to recover Mongolia, it is inevitable that they will be suspected of rebellion.
Those countries that have established cooperative relations with us may doubt our sincerity; those countries that are talking about cooperation with us may question us; and those countries that look at us unfavorably will more and more have reasons to attack us.
China learned the lessons of the Soviet Union and was determined to focus on economic development. Such a choice of path also dooms us not to easily discredit our international image or even wage war.
After all, only a peaceful and stable national environment and a confident and generous image of a great power can allow us to better cooperate with other countries and achieve the goal of our great rejuvenation.
To sum up, our attempt to recover Outer Mongolia is really a bit of a thankless task.
Since the existence of Mongolia does not pose any threat to us, and since there is no tangible benefit to recovering Outer Mongolia, it is better to give up this land that no longer belongs to us for the sake of a farther future.
It's not a good thing to be a friendly neighbor.