China, Mongolia deepen relations
BEIJING - Nearly 62 years after establishing diplomatic ties, China-Mongolia relations are entering a new era.
China's Public Security Minister Meng Jianzhu visited Mongolia from Wednesday to Friday, the first Chinese leader to do so since the two countries established a strategic partnership in June, to boost cooperation in law enforcement and security issues.
During Mongolian Prime Minister Sukhbaatar Batbold's visit to China in mid-June, the two countries also signed 10 major agreements, covering areas including education, trade, transportation and culture.
Economic cooperation is now the most active area in China-Mongolia relations, with China being its largest trading partner.
Bilateral trade was $3.9 billion in 2010, according to the Ministry of Commerce, up 62.5 percent year-on-year.
Large-scale economic cooperation is the main factor driving relations between the two countries, said Tsedenjav Sukhbaatar, Mongolian ambassador to China.
Being close neighbors geographically is an advantage, he said, adding that China offers Mongolia its shortest route to the sea.
In a recent joint bid, Chinese company Shenhua Energy won the right to develop 40 percent of the western portion of Mongolia's Tavan Tolgoi, the world's largest coal mine in Mongolia containing an estimated 6.5 billion metric tons of metallurgical coal.
In addition, a Russian consortium won 36 percent, and US Peabody Energy won 24 percent.
"Through the joint bid, you can see Mongolia trying to balance different powers," said Wang Peiran, a visiting scholar at Vrije Universiteit Brussel in Belgium.
Wang said the fact that the majority stakeholding went to China is an indication of Mongolia's desire to enhance ties with its neighbor.
As well as developing relationships with its neighbors and other countries, Mongolia is also actively engaged in regional cooperation.
Mongolia has called for the establishment of a dialogue mechanism to discuss Northeast Asian regional issues, and is now member of the Greater Tumen Initiative, a joint mechanism including China, the Republic of Korea and Russia to promote regional cooperation for economic growth in Northeast Asia.
China Daily
(China Daily 07/11/2011 page11)
