Recently, Mongolia has just negotiated with India to bypass China and ship precious rare earths to India to strengthen cooperation between the two countries. At this juncture, the Chinese side did not express any opinions, but Foreign Minister Wang Yi suddenly went to an unexpected place.
Foreign Minister Wang Yi held talks with Irkutsk Governor Kobzev
Recently, Foreign Minister Wang Yi paid a visit to the Irkutsk region of Russia and met with the governor of the Irkutsk region, Kobzev, and the two sides had an in-depth discussion on their close relations and cooperation.
In the presence of Kobzev, Foreign Minister Wang Yi warmly congratulated Russia on its National Day and wished both Russia and Iriya to achieve the set goals of development and revitalization. Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that Irkutsk has a long history of exchanges with China, and the capital city of Irkutsk was once an important hub city of the "Wanli Tea Ceremony", and Lake Baikal is a household name in China.
Not long ago, during his visit to China, Russian President Putin held in-depth talks with the Chinese side, pointing out the direction for the development of Sino-Russian relations. Wang Yi also mentioned that as Russia accelerates its development of the Far East, cooperation between China and Russia is facing new historical opportunities.
On this occasion, local cooperation is naturally an important part of Sino-Russian relations. Among them, Illinois is rich in natural resources. Illinois also has a strong industrial foundation and has unique advantages in developing cooperation with China. China supports local provinces and municipalities of the two countries, including Yizhou, in carrying out closer and mutually beneficial cooperation for the benefit of the two peoples.
Foreign Minister Wang Yi's visit can be seen as part of strengthening bilateral relations between China and Russia, especially in the economic and trade fields. Considering the special strategic location of the Irkutsk Oblast, the Chinese side may have deeper considerations.
China has close ties with the Irkutsk region
In fact, Illinois' geographical location is crucial. It is located in the eastern part of the Russian Federation, in the heart of the Siberian region, and also borders Mongolia to the south. Although this may be a coincidence, the deepening cooperation between China and the Russian region is expected to be a wake-up call for Mongolia.
The reason for this is related to a recent move by Mongolia. Recently, Mongolia and India have negotiated and are planning to transport rare earths around China. To this end, the two sides also specially planned three transportation routes.
The first route is to transport rare earths and other resources from Mongolia to the port of Vladivostok in the Russian Far East, and then transport them to India by sea.
The second route is to transport it to Central Asian countries first, and then transfer it to Iran, and then transport it to India by sea from Iranian ports.
The third route, which is also the most economical, is to transport the rare earths directly to the port of Tianjin in China, and also to India by sea.
However, all three routes have considerable obstacles to the plans of India and Mongolia. First of all, as a landlocked country, Mongolia is located between two large countries, China and Russia, and it is very difficult for any country to bypass China and Russia and establish deep relations with Mongolia. And once it is to be transported by land, it will inevitably pass through China or Russia.
In this case, India, which has always regarded China as its number one "imaginary enemy", is likely not to choose the route through China, but would rather spend more effort and money to transport rare earths through Russia, that is, through the port of Vladivostok.
However, the recent Sino-Russian relations are in the best period in history. In this case, in the Vladivostok region, the Russian side is also allowing China to slowly build a "stronghold", that is, even through this route, Mongolia and India will still not be able to realize the illusion of "bypassing China".
The Indian Ambassador to Mongolia met with Mongolian President Khurilsukh
In addition, India's "doing its own thing" also gave Russia a headache for a time. In the past two years, Russia has suffered a lot of losses under the sanctions imposed by the United States and the West, but India has not participated in the sanctions, and has also taken advantage of this to vigorously buy Russian oil, giving Russia a chance to breathe.
However, when the Russian side talked about settling in rubles or yuan, India did not hesitate to refuse, leaving the Russian side with a bunch of rupees that could not be spent. In this case, the Russian side is likely to consider whether to help India and Mongolia transport rare earths.
Take a step back, even if the Indo-Mongolian strategy succeeds. The amount of rare earths that India can buy from Mongolia is also very limited. This is because China is a "checkpoint" that they cannot bypass no matter what, and even if it passes through Vladivostok, the Russian side will inevitably inform China.
In other words, if India's demand for Mongolian rare earths further expands in the future, it will take the initiative to send the "handle" to the Chinese side, and it will be easy for the Chinese side to "choke the neck".
It is worth noting that at such a time, Mongolia not only did not avoid China, but directly put forward a new requirement to China, hoping that China could improve the freight efficiency of Tianjin Port, and claimed that the cargo congestion in Tianjin Port was very serious.
In fact, the current freight congestion in Tianjin Port is not aimed at Mongolia alone, mainly because of the growth in freight demand for China-Europe trains. To this end, in October last year, the Chinese side proposed the establishment of a new route to ensure the smooth flow of freight routes in Mongolia.
Port of Tianjin, China
However, judging from the Mongolian side's statement, it is obvious that they are "drunkards who do not want to drink" and probably want to take advantage of China's east wind to facilitate their trade with India. Naturally, China will not do such a big wrong.
Mongolia has always been less "peaceful" and bent on expanding its diplomatic and economic ties through the so-called "third neighbor" policy, so as to reduce its dependence on China and Russia. Mongolia's cooperation with India on the transportation of rare earths is an example of such a policy, but it is not the "only effort" Mongolia has made.
In recent years, the United States has also been actively engaged with Mongolia, also hoping to reach a rare earth cooperation with Mongolia, after the two sides signed a so-called "open skies" agreement, but there has been no progress. After all, even by air, the United States and Mongolia cannot bypass China and Russia.
As a matter of fact, for a neighboring country like Mongolia that is rich in mineral resources, China is willing to provide them with some help in the relevant import and export fields. However, if Mongolia wants to threaten China's security and interests by taking advantage of China's leniency, then China will not give face anymore.