Xi Jinping looks to deepen ties in visit to 'wary' Mongolia
President expected to sign infrastructure and energy deals during trip, but analysts say the Chinese neighbour fears overdependency
Xi Jinping's two-day state visit to Mongolia beginning today will see China and Mongolia boost trade and economic ties, but Mongolia is cautious not to become overly dependent on China.
In the first visit to Mongolia by a Chinese president in over a decade, Xi hopes to sign a series of energy and infrastructure deals with its landlocked, mineral-rich neighbour, and discuss implementing the Silk Road economic belt - which aims to increase cooperation in railway lines, pipelines and highway construction.
"In order for Mongolia's economy to continue to develop quickly, it must continue to depend on Chinese [investment] and the Chinese market", Campi said, but added: "Mongolia wants to be more active in the Northeast Asian region and not just a passive observer."
Assistant Foreign Minister Liu Jianchao said on Monday that China would sign the energy and infrastructure deals as part of Xi's visit. The trip would also address plans for Mongolia to build transport links with China.
Chinese companies operate in several major sectors in Mongolia, most importantly the mining, construction and trade services. , a Mongolian business magazine, estimated recently that 80 per cent of the country's imports were from China, and that 30 per cent of Mongolian exports went to its southern neighbour.
In May, the Mongolian government submitted a resolution to parliament to allow a combination of both Chinese and Russian-gauge rail tracks. If approved, the resolution would see an international-standard railroad shared between China and Mongolia for the first time.
Despite strong trade ties, analysts said Mongolia remained wary of getting too cosy with Beijing. The country was part of China until early last century.
"For years, there have been concerns on the part of Mongolians about becoming overly dependent on China as a trade partner and a source of investment," said Andrew Kuchins, director of the Russia and Eurasia Programme at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies.
"Mongolia will seek a diversified set of economic partners to avoid a monopolistic relationship with China - overdependence on one buyer."
"Politically, China is at least interested in pulling Mongolia away from Russia and the US," said Dr James Seymour, a senior research scholar at Columbia University's Weatherhead East Asian Institute.
"China wants Mongolian resources; however, the main resource, coal, is not as important as it was [and] the price has been falling," Seymour said. "So with coal becoming less important than it was, that's bad for Mongolia, but metals are more important than they were."
Dalai Lama's Mongolia visit cancelled
The Dalai Lama's planned visit to Mongolia this month has been cancelled under pressure from China, according to several sources knowledgeable about Tibetan Buddhist affairs.
With President Xi Jinping due to pay a two-day state visit to Mongolia from today, the cancellation is believed to result from China's effective use of economic leverage on its landlocked neighbour, whose economy is highly dependent on China as an export market for mineral exports and as a source of investment.
The sources said Tibetan Buddhist circles began planning early this year for the Dalai Lama to visit Ulan Bator, the Mongolian capital, in August to preside over a large-scale public Kalachakra, or tantric initiation, like one he held there in August 1995 that attracted 30,000 followers.
The Dalai Lama is enormously popular in Mongolia, where a majority of the population is Tibetan Buddhist. He has made eight visits there since his first in 1979, despite objections from China.
The sources said preparations for his ninth visit were suspended after a plan for China's leader to visit Mongolia the same month emerged and began to take shape.
The Mongolian Foreign Ministry has not commented on the Dalai Lama's planned visit, except to say visits by religious leaders have nothing to do with the work of government.
But multiple sources said the government, under pressure from China, asked Tibetan Buddhist circles to cancel the planned events.
The religious leader, who fled his homeland following a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959 and has since been based with his followers in northern India, insists he seeks genuine autonomy, not independence, for Tibetans.