Speech by H.E. Mr. Galsan Batsukh, Ambassador of Mongolia to China,

at the symposium themed on “Friendship: Cooperation and Development – Celebration of the 60^th Anniversary of China Establishing Diplomatic

Relations with 10 countries”

Mr. Chair,

Distinguished colleagues,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

First of all, may I express my sincere gratitude to the Association of Former Diplomats of China and Peng Elite Club for the initiative and efforts in holding such an important symposium.  This is indeed an excellent opportunity to share reflections on the past and thoughts about the present and future of our relationship on the eve of its 60^th birthday.

Mongolia had recognized the People’s Republic of China, the brand New China, on October 03, 1949, and officially expressed its willingness to establish the diplomatic relations on October 06, 1949. This was a very special warm welcome to our neighbor who declared the new Republic on October 01, 1949.

The historic day happened on October 16, 1949, when Mongolia and China established diplomatic relations. A year after this milestone event, the two nations opened embassies in their Capitals.

The following 15 years saw rapid and fruitful developments in the bilateral relations. The high level political exchanges included mutual visits of the Speakers of the Parliaments as well as the Primes Ministers of both countries. Prime Minister Tsedenbal visited China in 1952, 1959 and 1962. In return, Premier Zhou Enlai visited Mongolia in 1954 and 1960.

 The basic bilateral agreements such as “Treaty on Friendship and Mutual Assistance”, “Boundary Treaty” and many others were signed at the early stage of the relationship.

Bilateral Trade and economic cooperation had flourished during this time and a number of large-scale projects in infrastructure and housing were implemented in Mongolia on the base of the economic aid and soft loans, granted by the Chinese government.

Cultural and human exchanges had also boomed. The very first Mongolia-China Friendship Decade, held in October of 1952, was a nationwide bilateral event across Mongolia to celebrate the highlights of the relationship. In this connection, I would like to quote Premier Zhou Enlai’s telegram to Mongolia’s Prime Minister Tsedenbal which is as follows “… wishing further success in the increasingly expanding China-Mongolia’s cultural and economic cooperation…”

This period had been named as “golden era of bilateral relations” .

Unfortunately, bilateral ties witnessed a recession in early 1960s, and even a confrontation during the period of “cultural revolution” in China. Now it is common knowledge that the reasons behind that recession were not only bilateral in nature. The international situation during that time, particularly bitterness in Sino-Russian relations – two immediate neighbors of Mongolia, contributed largely.

But it is worthwhile to mention that the two nations managed to maintain their embassies in the respective capitals as well as a moderate level of trade and economic ties during that tough time.

It was obvious that the situation and level of ties were not in the best interests of both sides. Therefore, efforts were made from both sides to renew the relations, which resulted in the restoration of exchange of ambassadors in early 1970s.

Owing to some positive developments in the international relations in 1980s, the two countries gradually increased the scope and depth of interaction. In 1986, two sides signed the first agreement on consular affairs and restored cultural, scientific and technological exchanges, suspended for more than 20 years.

The high level political exchanges started with the vice chairman of the People’s National Congress in 1987 which was followed by Speaker’s visit of the Mongolian Parliament in 1989. Then, President Yang Shangkun’s visit to Mongolia in 1990 brought the full normalization of the bilateral relations.

Since then, thanks to our joint efforts, the ship of Mongolia-China relations has moved forward, surely gaining speed and load. The “Treaty on Friendly Relations and Cooperation” has been renewed in 1994. In 1998, the two sides decided to develop good-neighborly friendly relations aimed at the 21st century. In 2003, during the state visit of President Hu Jintao to Mongolia, the heads of the states agreed to promote good-neighborly and mutually-trusting partnership.

The recent years have witnessed an established tradition of the regular meetings of our top leaders who discuss not only just bilateral relations, but regional and world issues in general. Thanks to these frequent high level consultations, political trust and mutual understanding being greatly promoted which subsequently resulted in intensified bilateral interactions.

Today, our good-neighborly and mutually-trusting partnership is expanding in multi-dimensions. The trade and economic exchanges have rapidly increased. Now, the two countries do nearly US$3.0 billion of annual trade which has been doubled since 2006. China is Mongolia's largest trading partner and foreign investor in the last decade. China’s preferential loans and development aid serve as vehicle of our bilateral economic cooperation which brings mutual benefits to both nations.  

Cultural, educational, scientific and human exchange programs are extensive in size and various in forms. The Chinese business people and travelers rank first among the foreigners visiting Mongolia, while Mongolians are the 8^th frequent visitors to China.  

Defense is another area which illustrates the ever-deepening mutual trust and understanding between the two nations. The bilateral consultation on security and defense issues has become an annual event. This year the two countries are conducting a joint peace-keeping military exercise for the first time in the history of the bilateral relationship.  

I could continue on and on, but the time is limited. Therefore, I tried to elaborate little bit on the historical phases of our relations and give a few examples of a very broad and multifaceted cooperation.  

We learned, that if two countries, no matter how big or small they are, no matter how different are their cultural and historical backgrounds, political systems, economic and social developments, we can develop a very fruitful, mutually beneficial cooperation if we respect each other’s sovereignty and development path.  

We experienced, that if two countries disregard each other’s interests, relations may go very wrong, and cause negative impacts to the well-beings of their peoples and countries’ social and economic developments.

The Mongolian and Chinese peoples, having overcome the different hurdles and tests, also understood that developing friendly relations is in line with the interests of the both countries, while tense and strained relationship bring disastrous consequence to both nations.    

Finally, we reached a consensus on that both nations should treasure the current high level of cooperation which we did not achieve easily, and should continue making concerted efforts to further promote it.

In my opinion, these lessons and conclusions are the main rationales behind Mongolia’s foreign policy to prioritize its relations with China, and see China’s rapid development as opportunity rather than threat. I also firmly believe that these are the main reasons to explain why China came up with and persistently pursues the policies of “harmonious world” and “Mulin/Anlin/Fulin(amicable, tranquil and prosperous neighborhood”.

Ladies and Gentlemen, 

Despite the twists and turns in their relations over the years since the establishment of diplomatic relations, neighborliness and friendship have always remained the mainstream of Mongolia-China relations.

You all may know that “60” is an auspicious number to the oriental thinking.  This number, on one hand, implies a maturity, and on the other hand, symbolizes a beginning of a new cycle. Accordingly, one may conclude that having witnessed the ups and downs of the past 60 years, Mongolia-China relations had reached a maturity and entered a new phase of development for the next cycles.    

Thank you for your attention.

                                                            12 February 2009, Beijing