Chinese investment in Mongolia: An uneasy courtship between Goliath and David
February 2nd, 2011Author: Justin Li, ICE
Sinophobia on the steppes
High dependence on China for trade and investment is causing an unprecedented wave of Sinophobia in Mongolia. This fear has been driven by geopolitical fear, historical legacy and sometimes open racism. Sandwiched between two former imperial masters, Mongolia’s landlocked geography can be described as nothing but a geopolitical nightmare for its leaders. Its national strategy is often a case of a depressing choice between the lesser of two evils. It is understandable that vast and sparsely populated Mongolia, at the doorstep of an emerging superpower, is anxious for anxiety’s sake itself.
The imperial legacy of China still lingers in the minds of some Mongolians and this landlocked country only gained independence from China as late as 1921. Ironically, Taiwan still officially recognises Mongolia as part of its official territory, and it is not uncommon to hear mainland Chinese refer to Mongolia as ‘outer Mongolia’, a dated name alluding to its status as a former imperial possession of China.
The influx of Chinese businessmen and labourers is also provoking racial tension in the country. Whether it be disapproval of Chinese migrant labourers’ behaviour as unhygienic, or Chinese businessmen’s behaviour as philandering, many Mongolians feel alienated by the arrival of large numbers of Chinese. Consequently, anti-China themes are rapidly capturing the airwaves and newspaper headlines, from unfounded allegations of rape and pillage to more justified concerns over Chinese disregard for industrial relations laws and regulations. Chinese construction workers are fast becoming random victims of Mongolian neo-Nazis, and some Mongolian politicians are more than happy to jump on the anti-Chinese bandwagon to attract popular votes.
Justin Li is principal of the Institute of Chinese Economics and an associate of EAF.
5 comments:
I don't want to defend Mongolian anti-Chinese sentiment and neo-Nazi attacks. Virulent ultranationalism is ugly anywhere in the world, whether it's Uzbekistan or Kyrgyzstan or Rwanda.
However, I think that the background of this issue needs to be kept in mind. The Mongolians are afraid of being swamped and dominated by China, with good reason.
If you follow your history, you'll find that Mongolia was, like Tibet and Xinjiang (aka East Turkistan) a part of the Manchu Empire. Outer Mongolia barely managed to escape China's clutches thanks to the Russians, and eventually managed to secure Chinese recognition of its independence (although the ROC still lays claim to Outer Mongolia as Chinese territory). But it wasn't easy. For a long time, the Chinese brought up the Mongolian issue with the Russians whenever they got the chance ('Give it back to us'). Even today it is very common to hear comments from Chinese people that 'we should take Mongolia back'. The Internet is also filled with very aggressive comment from Chinese netizens.
For Mongolians, the fate of the other former Qing territories -- the swamping of Inner Mongolia by Chinese immigrants so that Inner Mongolians are a minority in their own 'autonomous region', the ongoing swamping of Xinjiang and increasing number of Chinese in Tibet -- are all warnings of what could happen.
There is no doubt that both the Russians and Mongolian politicians have fed this xenophobic sentiment. But in the background is the same root cause as that of all Chinese ethnic and territorial problems: China lays claim to all territories of the Manchu Empire as their own. I use the term 'Manchu Empire' advisedly. The preferred Chinese term is 'Qing dynasty', which implies that the Qing was just another Chinese dynasty to whose territory China has a rightful claim. In fact, the Manchus treated their territories as an empire, divided into Chinese, Manchurian, Mongolian, Islamic, and Tibetan parts. The Manchus never regarded the peoples or territories of these outer areas as 'Chinese' and never treated them as such, although towards the end they did convert some of these territories into Chinese provinces.
Just before the Manchus fell, the Outer Mongolians declared independence because, while they were subject to the Qing, they never regarded themselves as belonging to China. While they succeeded with Russian help, the price was heavy -- massive killings of lamaist monks and all the other excesses of Stalinism. However, despite their best efforts, they were never able to regain Inner Mongolia, partly because the Russians and Japanese had a secret agreement whereby Outer Mongolia belonged to the Russian sphere of influence and Inner Mongolia to the Japanese.
At any rate, Mongolians' extreme sensitivity to any possibility of China compromising their independence is understandable. It doesn't excuse neo-Nazi actions, but it does help explain them. Justin Li, like many Chinese ethnics, appears to be very sensitive to the idea that there are people who don't like the Chinese, but they almost NEVER have a grasp of the historical and contemporary realities that give rise to this sentiment. And ethnic Chinese are almost ALWAYS unwilling to countenance any kind of doubt being thrown on China's stance on minority ethnicities and (in particular) their territories.
But the problem is sir,mongolian racism is not necessarily restricted to the chinese,even other asians have experienced similiar attitude from the locals.Even if xenophobic streak among the mongolians are justified by the historical factors between china and mongolia but I don't see any reason why they should be hostile towards foreigners which has no association what so ever with the chinese or their(presumably)plan for domination on mongolia.I myself have witnessed an extreme form of racism manifest in both verbally and physical abuse which I previously thought only exist among racist european.Even in South Korea which equally xenophobic don't reach this level.But I think this is quite understandable considering the vast majority of mongolians is not quite educated compared to the rest of east asia which explain why such extemism exist.But in the end ,I certainly doubt anyone would sympathize with the mongolians if they keep using the chinese influx to their country as excuse for such stupidity and savagery against other foreigners.
But the problem is sir,mongolian racism is not necessarily restricted to the chinese,even other asians have experienced similiar attitude from the locals.Even if xenophobic streak among the mongolians are justified by the historical factors between china and mongolia but I don't see any reason why they should be hostile towards foreigners which has no association what so ever with the chinese or their(presumably)plan for domination on mongolia.I myself have witnessed an extreme form of racism manifest in both verbally and physical abuse which I previously thought only exist among racist european.Even in South Korea which equally xenophobic don't reach this level.But I think this is quite understandable considering the vast majority of mongolians is not quite educated compared to the rest of east asia which explain why such extemism exist.But in the end ,I certainly doubt anyone would sympathize with the mongolians if they keep using the chinese influx to their country as excuse for such stupidity and savagery against other foreigners.
Sorry, the link above is incorrect. This is the correct on: http://www.racism.imthomas.com
JosephK you said it better than any of us.
Matter of fact,many chinese workers here in mongolia commit homicide, rape, steal and still remain outlaw even with 10 witnesses swearing the incident has happened court rules not guilty. that is another cause for some people to support the neo-Nazi attacks, cos its the only way we getting some justice done from any source. especially when our government put blink eye on this matter, sorry for bad english.
but we are gonna see more violence from chinese side like tibetans,(you know what happens there? )
as the rest of the world is putting deaf ear on tibetian killings and executions.we are not gonna sit there and let it happen to us.
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