Today in History

It was on this day in 1936 that the autonomous state of Mengjiang was formed in Inner Mongolia with the support of the Imperial Japanese Army. This is something everyone should familiarize themselves with more because it is relevant to events today in northeast Asia. For many years, with republican chaos in China and the growing threat of expansionist communism from Russia, important people in the Empire of Japan had been working for forge closer ties and build a pan-monarchist alliance between Japan, Manchuria and Mongolia. It was only natural for Japan to support Prince Teh and the loyal people of Inner Mongolia in their hope of reunited the Mongol people. This matters to Japan today, whether many people realize it or not. There has been, lately, an increasing outcry by aggressive elements in China to occupy and absorb Mongolia (which is to say, Outer Mongolia, the independent republic, as Inner Mongolia has already been absorbed). Right now the people of Inner Mongolia are in danger of losing their culture and eventually their existence as they are being drowned out in a sea of Han Chinese moving into Inner Mongolia. Outer Mongolia is next on the menu of many Chinese expansionists. If and when this happens, Mongolia will have to make its case for independence and that will go back to the fall of the Great Qing Empire and the start of revolutionary republicanism in East Asia.

Mongolia had never been a part of China, both were, however, part of the Great Qing Empire. This came about when the last Yuan Dynasty Emperor, Ligden Khan, handed over his authority to the Qing Dynasty Emperor of Manchuria. So, Manchuria and Mongolia were joined in a personal union as the Emperor of Manchuria was also the Great Khan of the Mongols. Later, the Qing Emperor became the ruler of all of China so that China and Mongolia were both included in his imperial realms but Mongolia did not belong to China. When the 1911 Revolution broke out that ended the Qing Dynasty reign, none of the countries outside of China had any part in it. If China wanted to become a republic, it should have had no bearing on any other countries. That is why Tibet and Mongolia both reacted quickly to reassert their independence. The last Qing Emperor was still, legitimately, the Great Khan of the Mongols but, of course, he was a child being held in the Forbidden City in Peking and neither he nor anyone in Mongolia could do anything about that. That is why, in the absence of the Great Khan, the Mongols looked to their supreme religious figure for leadership and made the Bogd Gegeen the Bogd Khan or 'Holy King' of Mongolia and he ruled until being suppressed by the Soviet-backed communist takeover.

The Soviet-backed regime of Choibalsan in Outer Mongolia, just like the Chinese rule over Manchuria, was illegitimate. In 1931 the Japanese Kwantung Army occupied Manchuria in the wake of the incident near Mukden and eventually the Empire of Manchuria was restored under the legitimate monarch. This had meaning for the Mongols as well and gave them hope. Mongolian was one of the officially recognized languages of Manchukuo and the Emperor was titled as Emperor of Manchuria and Mongolia, showing that the Mongols had not been forgotten and that, ultimately, their independence was to be restored (if Japan had won the Greater East Asian War). Prince Teh and the Emperor were close friends (possibly distant relatives) and Imperial Japanese forces were quick to assist him in setting up the autonomous government for Mengjiang as a prelude to reuniting all the Mongols into their own state, either together with Manchukuo or as a separate state in personal union with the Emperor who was, at the same time, Emperor of Manchukuo and Great Khan of the Mongols.

Today, as Communist China casts a hungry eye on Outer Mongolia, this history becomes extremely relevant and Japan can help make the case. It is likely an issue that the Chinese government does not want to bring up because the truth of history clearly shows that, not only do they have no legitimate right to Mongolia but the same could be said for Manchuria and Tibet as well (the case could also be made for Xinjiang but that is a more complex situation). Japan and all free countries should support the independence of the Mongols in the face of Red Chinese aggression and all loyal monarchists should also unite in support of the restoration of traditional, legitimate governments in northeast Asia. Only then can ideological hatreds (all of which have foreign origins) be put to an end and East Asia come into balance, peace and tranquility.

Crimea First, Mongolia Next?

The recent events in the Ukraine and the Russian annexation of Crimea are being watched closely in the People's Republic of China. Many western commentators have warned that inaction by the international community regarding Russia's seizure of Crimea could be taken by the Chinese as a "green light" to seize the Senkaku Islands or perhaps even make aggressive moves towards Taiwan (less likely). However, the Red Chinese might be looking in a different direction, to an area where the west has shown very little concern or compassion in the past: Mongolia. Weibo, the Chinese communist version of "Twitter" has exploded recently in messages showing the map of China including Outer Mongolia and the on-line Chinese celebrity Cui Chenghao has put out the message that the Soviet Union also, in the past, held a referendum after military forces occupied the country and then made Mongolia the first Soviet satellite state, a part of the USSR in all but name. The western powers took no notice at the time and the only one to show any concern or willingness to do anything about it was the Empire of Japan. The Chinese aggression comes from the false belief, spread through indoctrination by the communist government in Peking, that Mongolia should belong to China.

Bogd Khan

This, of course, is completely absurd. Mongolia never belonged to China in all of history. Manchuria and Mongolia were first united under the Qing Dynasty with the Manchu Emperor becoming the Great Khan of Mongolia after the death of Ligden Khan, the last Emperor of the Yuan Dynasty of Mongolia. After that, the Qing Dynasty later came to reign over the whole of China. However, unsatisfied with throwing off the Qing Dynasty in their own country (and with it, most of traditional Chinese culture and tradition) the Republic of China claimed ownership over all the lands previously ruled by the Manchu Emperor even though none of these places had anything to do with the revolution and overthrow of the last Qing Emperor. The Mongols always held fast to their traditions and customs and that includes, of course, the Mongolian style of monarchy. So, when the last Qing Emperor, who was also Great Khan of the Mongols, was deposed and confined to the Forbidden City, the Mongols granted secular power as monarch to their spiritual leader who is known to history as the Bogd Khan. Chinese republican forces deposed him but were chased out by the White Russian/Mongol army of Baron Ungern von Sternberg who restored the Bogd Khan to power. However, that ended later the same year, in 1921, when the Soviets occupied Mongolia.

Great Khan of the Mongols also

The Chinese never consistently held control over Mongolia at any point in history, before or after the revolution. Mongolia was in a partnership, a personal union, with the Emperor of Manchuria, before China had anything to do with either of them, before all three came together under the Great Qing Empire. But also for that reason, the close ties between Manchuria and Mongolia were never forgotten so that when the Japanese forces corrected a great historical injustice by restoring the last Emperor of Manchuria to his legitimate throne, this was done with the expectation that the new empire would include, in some way, the Mongols as well, whether as united together in one empire or as partners under a shared monarchy with the Empire of Manchukuo. Aisin-Gioro Pu-yi had, by every right, never ceased to be legitimately the Emperor of Manchuria and Great Khan of the Mongols and this was more or less recognized by Japan as well since all Japanese official correspondence on the issue always grouped the two countries together as addressing the Manchu and Mongol peoples. There was no doubt that Mongolia was not being forgotten even though the rest of the world turned a blind eye to first the Chinese and then the Soviets occupation and oppression of independent Mongolia. Today, the People's Republic of China is carrying on this history of aggression against the Mongols who are cut off and surrounded by huge powers that have shown little consideration for their wishes; Russia and China.

Ukraine's situation has taught the Chinese communists a lesson. They see their supposed friendship with Russia for the farce that it is, as everyone seems to realize except the Russians. They see Russia able to annex territory from a neighboring country and get away with it, with the rest of the world doing nothing practically to stop them. They also see western weakness and hypocrisy on display with the way the Europeans and Americans condemned the secession of Crimea from Ukraine while in the past they supported the secession of Kosovo from Serbia. They do not think anyone can stop them from taking Mongolia and, sadly, it is easy to see that they may be correct. In the past, Japan could and did offer great help to the Mongols in defending themselves against Soviet and Chinese aggression but today, thanks to Article 9, Japan is forbidden to offer any real assistance and so there is no one close at hand who could be looked to by the Mongolians as an alternative to domination by Russia or China. All loyal forces should unite in support of the Mongols and in restoring the Mongolian monarchy as well as reuniting the Mongol people into one country where they will be safe and secure in their own way of life.

Mongolia Looks to Japan

Today, major news outlets such as NHK and the BBC have reported on the plight of the Mongols in both the Chinese-ruled Inner Mongolia and the independent Outer Mongolia (the Republic of). In Inner Mongolia an economic boom is underway because of the exploitation of minerals, such as coal, but this is mostly going to benefit the Chinese and not the native Mongols of the region. Elder Mongols are deeply disturbed by the destruction of their traditional way of life, the growing distance of their children from the Mongol culture and the huge surge in the Han Chinese population. A quarter of all domestic coal production in the People's Republic of China comes from Inner Mongolia and the haphazard way these resources are being exploited is having a devastating impact on the local environment with air pollution becoming an increasing problem. There is also the fact of Han migration which has reached a point so that Mongols find themselves a minority even within Inner Mongolia with Mongols now being only 20% of the population, the majority is now Han Chinese. As one university student told the BBC, "Maybe in the future we won't have a place to live like traditional Mongolians. Our nation will vanish - the Mongolians will vanish." It has already happened to the Manchus and is currently happening in Tibet and Xinjiang.

Likewise, in Outer Mongolia, China dominates their coal export market while Russia also maintains a close watch on any developments in the country. China buys most of the Mongolian coal but pays only 40% of market price for it. There has also been a huge upsurge in pollution in Outer Mongolia because of this. For help, they are looking to Japan, both to help with combating air pollution using state-of-the-art Japanese methods and technology and by building a new railway network to get Mongolian coal to Japanese markets. This, of course, is not the first time that Mongols have looked to Japan as an alternative to being dominated by either Russia or China. In the past the Empire of Japan, specifically the Kwantung Army, aided in establishing the autonomous military government of Inner Mongolia under Prince Demchukdongrub with the goal of one day reuniting all of the Mongol people into one country under one monarch. After the defeat of Japan in 1945 he was forced to flee to Outer Mongolia where he was arrested by the communists, deported back to China and spent 13 years in prison for "treason" at the ruling of the Communist Chinese government that had taken power by that time. However, in spite of being labeled as a "traitor" and "collaborator" he remained very popular with the Mongolian people who recognized him as a patriot who was fighting to free his country and unite his people with the support of Japan. Perhaps, with these modern-day movements, some of these past injustices will be corrected.