Mongolia, which is located between China and Russia, which we used to call Outer Mongolia, has long been a territory or vassal state of China. During the Qing Dynasty, Northern Mongolia (i.e., Outer Mongolia) was under the jurisdiction of general Uria Sutai and was an administrative region of the Qing Dynasty.
In 1945, Outer Mongolia, with the support of external forces, became an independent sovereign state, Mongolia, which is currently the second largest landlocked country in the world (the largest being Kazakhstan).
How did Outer Mongolia separate from China? This has to start from the end of the Qing Dynasty.
After the success of the Wuchang Uprising in China in 1911, it triggered the domino effect. China's provinces responded by declaring independence and getting rid of the Qing government. Outer Mongolia, like other provinces in China, declared its independence under the leadership of princes and nobles and established the "GreatEr Mongolia". However, the Beiyang government at the time refused to recognize it.
Xu Shichang, then president of the Beiyang government, and Duan Qirui, head of government, decided to send troops to Outer Mongolia and sent Xu Shuzheng to lead troops into Outer Mongolia to restore territorial sovereignty.
This matter of the Beiyang government has done a very good job!
In 1920, Duan Qirui stepped down in the warlord competition, and his hardcore Xu Shuzheng was wanted for accusations of being the top ten scourges. Xu Shuzheng escaped to Tianjin with the help of the Japanese embassy, and then sneaked into hiding in the British Concession in Shanghai.
Outer Mongolia has once again entered a state of chaos.
On July 10, 1921, the upper echelons of The Mongol Maharaja and the Mongolian People's Party jointly formed the "Mongolian People's Revolutionary Government", declaring "independence" and establishing the "Mongolian State" again. When the news reached the Chinese mainland, public opinion was in an uproar for a time, and people from all walks of life issued declarations one after another to oppose the perverse behavior of the Mongol princes and nobles in splitting the motherland.
At that time, Cao Kun and Wu Peifu, the powerful figures of the Beiyang government, issued a sternly worded statement in the name of the Chinese government, condemning Outer Mongolia's attempt to split the Republic of China and not recognizing Outer Mongolia's "independence."
However, Cao Kun and Wu Peifu had to deal with Zhang Zuolin in the north and warlords in other provinces in the south, fearing that sending troops to Outer Mongolia would lose their real power in the Beijing government, so they only fought a war of words and did not dare to sanction them by force.
In 1924, the "Mongolian People's Republic" appeared. At that time, until the 1940s, China, which had long been mired in external and internal strife, repeatedly lost the opportunity to regain Mongolian sovereignty.
In February 1945, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Stalin held a trilateral summit in Yalta. In discussing the war against Japan, Stalin proposed that one of the conditions for the Soviet Union's war against Japan was that "the status quo in Outer Mongolia must be maintained." Stalin's request was agreed to by Roosevelt and Churchill. They also signed a secret agreement on this, known as the "Yalta Agreement".
When Stalin spoke of the "status quo," he meant the "Mongolian People's Republic." Stalin knew that this was a very hot thing, so he proposed that the United States come forward to inform the Chinese government.
On June 15, U.S. Ambassador to China Hurley was instructed to formally inform Chiang Kai-shek of the contents of the Yalta Agreement. Chiang Kai-shek was furious, but he had no choice but to agree to send Song Ziwen, president of the Executive Yuan and foreign minister, Hu Shize, vice minister of foreign affairs, and Chiang Ching-kuo, a special attaché, to Moscow for negotiations.
From the end of June to the middle of August 1945, China and the Soviet Union held several talks in Moscow, and the debate was fierce. Stalin told Song Ziwen almost in a threatening tone: Outer Mongolia must be independent. If China did not agree, the Soviet Union would not have sent troops to fight Japan. In fact, China is no longer able to administer Outer Mongolia, and moreover, Outer Mongolia and Inner Mongolia are now preparing to unite to create a greater Mongolian Republic, which will endanger Northern China.
Song Ziwen argued on the basis of reason, but to no avail. He also proposed a "high degree of autonomy" for Outer Mongolia as a compromise, but the Soviet side refused to discuss it.
Therefore, the helpless Chiang Kai-shek had no choice but to instruct Song Ziwen to accept the Soviet conditions and agreed to allow Outer Mongolia to become independent under the conditions that the Soviet Union respected the sovereignty and territorial integrity of northeast China, did not interfere in Xinjiang's internal affairs, and did not assist the Chinese Communists under such conditions as "after the Soviet Union sent troops to defeat Japan."
On August 14, 1945, Song Ziwen and Wang Shijie were ordered to sign the Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship and Alliance and its annexes. The exchange of letters between the two sides on the issue of Outer Mongolia reads as follows: "In view of the repeated expressions of the aspirations of the people of Outer Mongolia for independence, the Chinese Government has agreed that a referendum will be held after Japan's defeat in the war to determine the independence of Outer Mongolia." ”
In the face of this humiliating treaty, Song Ziwen refused to sign it, and he resigned as foreign minister, and the treaty was finally signed by the successor foreign minister, Wang Shijie.
The signing of the Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship and Alliance marked the official betrayal of Outer Mongolia by the Chiang Kai-shek government.
On October 20, 1945, the Outer Mongolian authorities single-handedly conducted a "referendum" (registered ballot). According to Reports from Outer Mongolia, there were 490,000 voters, and "98 percent of the voters voted in favor of independence."
Lei Fazhang, executive vice minister of the Ministry of the Interior of the Chinese Nationalist Government, who was ordered to observe the "referendum" in Outer Mongolia, commented on the vote afterwards: "The people who handled the voting affairs called guidance, are actually monitoring, and are very strict"; "This referendum is said to be the action of the people of Outer Mongolia to renew their desire for independence to the world, but in fact, under the supervision of government personnel, they expressed their approval for independence in public signature, and it is really difficult for the people to express their free will." ”
On January 5, 1946, when the Republic of China, then controlled by Chiang Kai-shek, recognized the independence of the Mongolian People's Republic, the Nationalist government issued a proclam stating that the people of Outer Mongolia held a referendum on October 20, 1945, and the results of the referendum had been confirmed that the people of Outer Mongolia were in favor of independence. Therefore, in accordance with the deliberation and decision of the Supreme Council for National Defense, the recognition of the independence of Outer Mongolia shall be transferred from the Executive Yuan to the Ministry of the Interior, and this resolution shall be formally notified to the Government of Outer Mongolia, and hereby announced to the chinese people.
After the fall of the mainland and his retreat to Taiwan, Chiang Kai-shek was indignant that Stalin did not abide by the terms of the Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship and Alliance, and sued the Soviet Union at the United Nations on the grounds that the Soviet Union had violated the law. At that time, although the mainland had changed hands, at the United Nations, the Republic of China still had the legitimate representation of China and was a permanent member of the Security Council. The Republic of China declared the Sino-Soviet Treaty of Friendship and Alliance invalid, thereby not recognizing the independence of Outer Mongolia.
However, when Mongolia applied to join the United Nations in 1961, the Kuomintang regime in Taiwan, which still had the legal representation of China in the United Nations at that time, gave up the use of the veto power, which was tantamount to recognizing the independence of Outer Mongolia.
At the Fourth Session of the Seventh National Congress of the Kuomintang, Chiang Kai-shek also made a heavy "review" and said: "Although the decision to recognize the independence of Outer Mongolia was officially adopted unanimously by the Central Committee, I am still willing to shoulder its full responsibility. At that time, the basis of my determination was threefold: First, I have always considered the idea of national equality and freedom to be a matter of course, and as long as its nation has the ability to be independent, we should be independent and autonomous. Second, the so-called Mongolian People's Republic of Outer Mongolia, since the establishment of the Republic of China in the tenth year of the Republic of China, has in fact been controlled by the Russian Emperor, and our government has actually existed in name with regard to the territory of Outer Mongolia. Third, as long as our country can stand on its own feet and strengthen itself, these nations in Outer Mongolia will eventually fall into the embrace of the motherland, and instead of committing real disasters for the sake of vanity at this time, it is better to endure the pain of cutting off for a while, in exchange for the opportunity for the country to recuperate for twenty years. That is worth it; because the abandonment of the cold and barren land of Outer Mongolia is not the fatal wound of our nation-building, and if we make internal and external peace because we preserve this false name of Outer Mongolia, then the country has no hope of peaceful construction. My determination to abandon Outer Mongolia is based on this. This now seems to be a naïve illusion, and it is by no means the way to seek a country; but at that time, the only way to make such a decision on the question of foreign Mongolia was to ensure the results of the war and strive for the founding of the country. This is my duty and my guilt. ”
This was the only time chiang kai-shek admitted his "guilt" during his rule over the mainland after he arrived in Taiwan. (Liu Jixing)