THE ORIGINS

Evening Post, Volume CXXI, Issue 129, 2 June 1936, Page 5

THE ORIGINS

MONGOLIAN DISPUTE THE FEARS OF TWO NATIONS A CLASH OF SYSTEMS

Long before the Bolshevik coup Russia was a powerful factor in Mongolia; today it. is dominant (writes Richard Hippelheuse in the "San Francisco Chronicle").

Favoured by the Mongols' desire for independence from China the growth o£ this influence has been steady. Its nature, however, has differed. The RomanoiKs dickered with the Mongol princes, the Bolsheviks with the masses. Always it has been with one purpose —to strengthen the position of Russia in the Far East.

At the turn of tnc cenuiry the Tsarist Government was giving aid to secessionist activities in Mongolia. Russia's war with Japan in 1904-00 gave China the opportunity to re-estaonsh somewhat its old-time power, but not for long. The Manchu dynasty in China was tottering; in its weakness the Mongol princes found their ripened opportunity. Early in 19li they sent a delegation to St. Petersburg to.seek the aid of Tsar Nicholas in gaining independence. The Russian Government furnished arms to the secessionists and intimated they Could depend upon further support in the autonomy movement. "

Later that year the Manchu dynasty collapsed and the Chinese Republic was established. At first the Tsar refused to recognise the republic unless Mongolia was given at; least autonomy. His Ministers, however, prevailed upon him to negotiate further, and in 1915 a tripartite agreement was signed between China, Mongolia, and .Russia. Mongolia was given considerable autonomy, the Chinese withdrew troops and gave a guarantee against further colonisation. In this agreement Russia's interests were greatly furthered. Then came the Bolshevik Revolution and the separate treaty of peace with Germany. CIVIL WAR. Civil war raged between the White Russians ~ and the Red. The White armies of Kolchak, Semeuov, and Torvath spread not only over Siberia but Mongolia. The Mongol princes who had plotted with the Tsar gave aid to the Whites. The Allied Powers intervened in Siberia. »

The position of Russia in Mongolia was destroyed. The Communist Government was forced to built it entirely anew.

Whatever the intervention of the rest of the Allies it gave a long-awaited opportunity to Japan. For years the Japanese had sought to spread their influence on the Asiatic continent. They possessed Korea and wanted more, Manchuria, North China.

In .intervention and the civil war Tokio found opportunity to make a serious effort at gaining a hand not only in Siberia but elsewhere in the Far East. The watchfulness of the American command in the army of intervention checked the Japanese materially, but they provided aid to the White armies.

The Red armies of Trotsky marched to victory. In 1920 they wiped out Kolchak to regain control of Siberia. The remnants of'Kolchak's forc«s fled south into, Manchuria, Mongolia, and Chinese Turkestan (Sinkiang).

Some of the remnants were reunited in Mongolia under the leadership of Baron Ungern von Sternberg; a halfRussian, half-Magyar fanatic whose wife was a Manchu princess. Not only did he desire the restoration of the autocracy in St. Petersburg but in China. Against the Reds he had the aid of Japan. His one big offensive was the capture of Urga, capital of Mongolia.

The Red Army entered Mongolia against Ungern Sternberg. It took Urga, defeated Ungern Sternberg's army, and executed him, late in 1021.

MASSES RISE. The Bolsheviks stirred up the Mongolian masses against the princes. They found plenty of willingness on the part of the people to accept their propaganda against the .Chinese mei> chants and tax collectors, who still sought to force dependence on the Chinese republic. These classes were driven out. The Red Army gave its aid to the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party, and, in 1922, this party gained control of Mongolia and has been in power since.

The Revolutionary Party established the People's Republic of Outer Mongolia, adopting a constitution in 1924.

Little has been printed on the nature of the Mongolian Government, other than that it is closely connected with the Soviet Union, as.is Tannu Tuva, an autonomous area between Mongolia and Siberia.

Why does' the Soviet Union place such a value on maintaining its position, its dominance in Mongolia? Why does Japan strengthen its position along Mongolia's eastern frontier? Why does even a remote border dispute become first rank international news?

Mongolia is the great buffer between Japan and the U.S.S.R.

In 1931 Japan occupied Manchuria. Out of Manchuria and part of Northeast China it created the puppet State o:t Manchukuo. To this it has added part of Northern Inner Mongolia, and steadily the Japanese influence has spread southward into Inner Mongolia and North China; south towards the great wall of old China.

BOTH AFRAID. I Just as Russia professes . fears of Japanese attack, so does Japan profess fears of Communist expansion to the east. In isolating Mongolia on the east Tokio seeks to prevent any further extension of Soviet control of influence in this direction.

Just as the Soviets expand industrially and agriculturally in Siberia and in Mongolia so does Japan develop Manchukuo.

. But the friction between Russia and Japan in the Far East does not spring from this development, in itself. .

Both these dominating Powers of Asia .have expansion room for many years to come. Frequently there are disputes in the fishing waters of! the Siberian coast, but these would amount .to nothing if there was no political tenseness between the two countries..

With the sale of the Soviet interests in the Chinese Eastern -Railway—built by Tsarist and Chinese capital in Manchu days—to Manchukuo, one zone

of friction has been eliminated. But this, was only one zone in a large area.

The Russian-Japanese friction is political-economic in- nature. In its political aspect there are two great powers, traditional foes, engaged in perennial manoeuvring ,for position, for greater influence in the- same continental area.

Underneath is the clash of two economic systems as far apart as possible, the Communism of Russia and the aggressive capitalism of Japan.