VZCZCXRO2061
PP RUEHCN RUEHGH RUEHVC
DE RUEHBJ #2724/01 2660619
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 230619Z SEP 09
FM AMEMBASSY BEIJING
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6181
INFO RUEHOO/CHINA POSTS COLLECTIVE
RUEHAH/AMEMBASSY ASHGABAT 0758
RUEHTA/AMEMBASSY ASTANA 0099
RUEHEK/AMEMBASSY BISHKEK 1371
RUEHNT/AMEMBASSY TASHKENT 0082
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BEIJING 002724 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/23/2034 
TAGS: PREL PGOV CH MG NK MARR PBTS
SUBJECT: MONGOLIA-CHINA RELATIONS: HIGH-LEVEL PROGRESS, 
POPULAR DISTRUST 
 
Classified By: Political Minister Counselor Aubrey 
Carlson.  Reason 1.4 (b and d) 
 
 ¶1. (C) Summary: The 60th anniversary of the establishment of 
PRC-Mongolia relations has moved that relationship in a 
positive direction, but mutual popular mistrust persists, 
according to Beijing-based scholars.  Per the Mongolian 
Embassy, plans are for Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao to visit 
Mongolia in early October.  Wen will likely elaborate on 
Chinese plans for financial aid to Mongolia and sign a guest 
laborer agreement during his visit.  Smooth relations at 
higher levels of government belie less harmonious relations 
between the Mongolian and Chinese peoples, claimed our 
contacts.  Mongolian popular and historic mistrust of Chinese 
intentions will likely not influence overall relations, but 
the Chinese government is taking steps to improve its image 
in 
Mongolia all the same, the scholars said.  Scholars dismissed 
claims that good U.S.-Mongolia relations are of concern to 
China or that "pan-Mongolian" theories pose a threat to 
China. 
A Mongolian Embassy official expressed concern over the 
trafficking of Mongolian women across the China-Mongolia 
border.  Finally, Chinese Mongolia scholars lament that their 
numbers are few but note that efforts are being made to 
increase Chinese expertise in the neighbor to the north.  End 
Summary. 
 
Overall Relations on Right Track 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (C) China-Mongolia relations were developing well, agreed 
Beijing-based Mongolia scholars and Mongolian Embassy 
officials in recent meetings with PolOff.  Huang Ying, a 
researcher focusing on Mongolia at the MSS-affiliated China 
Institutes of Contemporary International Relations (CICIR), 
pointed to increased high-level visits between the two 
countries, closer economic ties, and the construction of new 
border crossings as evidence of improving relations.  Wang 
Hao, 
Director of the Peking University (Beida) Center for 
Mongolian 
Studies, noted that the 60th anniversary of the establishment 
of relations between the two countries had provided 
opportunities for government and academic exchanges that 
would 
play a role in improving relations. 
 
Wen Jiabao Visits to UB and DPRK? 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶3. (C) A visit to Mongolia by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao was 
being planned for the first week in October, Mongolian 
Embassy 
Second Secretary Battsetseg Tuvshintugs told PolOff September 
¶17.  Though cautioning that the visit had not yet been 
confirmed by the Chinese, she said Wen would likely travel to 
Ulaanbaatar to take part in celebrations of the 60th 
anniversary of relations between the PRC and Mongolia on 
October 6.  (Note:  Battsetseg said that her Chinese 
counterparts had refused to confirm rumors that Wen would 
visit North Korea prior to going to Mongolia.  She speculated 
that a trip to Pyongyang would be possible October 4-5.  MFA 
Mongolia Desk officer Zhang Yishi also refused to confirm 
Wen's travel plans.)  Wen would be the first Chinese Premier 
to visit Mongolia since Li Peng in 1994.  Battsetseg said Wen 
would likely announce details of a plan for Chinese financial 
aid to Mongolia.  Other agreements in the works included a 
guest laborer program that would delineate the rights and 
minimum working conditions for Chinese guest laborers in 
Mongolia. 
 
Popular Mistrust despite High-Level Harmony 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶5. (C) In spite of high-level advances in relations, there 
remained frictions between Mongolians and Chinese, reported 
academics and officials with whom we spoke.  Beida's Wang Hao 
blamed the poor behavior of Chinese business people in 
Mongolia for much of the tension.  Mongolians were concerned 
about the threat to the Mongolian job market posed by Chinese 
labor in Mongolia and were fearful that Chinese companies 
would take the country's natural resources, said Wang. 
CICIR's Huang Ying agreed that historical issues and the poor 
image of Chinese business people abroad had caused the rise 
of 
 
BEIJING 00002724  002 OF 003 
 
 
a "China threat theory" in Mongolia.  Mongolian diplomat 
Battsetseg denied a rise in anti-China sentiment, but 
acknowledged that historical conflicts between China and 
Mongolia had resulted in widespread mistrust between the two 
peoples.  While all of our interlocutors denied that popular 
mistrust between the Chinese and Mongolians would affect 
bilateral relations, both Wang and Huang outlined Chinese 
government efforts to improve the PRC image in Mongolia. 
According to Huang, the Chinese had opened a Confucius 
Institute in Mongolia in part to ameliorate misunderstandings 
between the two peoples.  China was also working to improve 
the behavior of Chinese business people abroad and to ensure 
that mining projects "mesh with local development goals," 
said 
Wang. 
 
U.S.-Mongolia Relations 
----------------------- 
 
¶6. (C) Chinese scholars with whom we spoke denied that good 
U.S.-Mongolia relations were of concern to the Chinese 
government.  CICIR's Huang Ying said that U.S.-China military 
cooperation was a "necessary" part of Mongolia's foreign 
policy and was "not a threat" to China.  Beida's Wang Hao 
said 
that China was aware that Mongolia's "third neighbor policy" 
was needed to counterbalance its two powerful geographic 
neighbors.  In contrast, Embassy official Battsetseg 
suggested 
that, though Chinese officials would never admit it, they 
were 
concerned about Mongolian cooperation with the United States. 
 
According to Battsetseg, China had agreed to hold China- 
Mongolia peacekeeping exercises partly to counterbalance U.S. 
and Russian military relations with Mongolia.  "Peacekeeping 
Mission 2009" was held in Beijing in June and was the first 
such exercise between the two countries.  Battsetseg noted 
that Mongolian officials had suggested holding joint 
exercises 
for "many years" before Chinese officials finally agreed in 
¶2008. 
 
Pan-Mongolia 
------------ 
 
¶7. (C) Both Wang Hao and Huang Ying disputed the claims of 
Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) Professor Hou Aijun 
that a popularization of "Pan-Mongolian Theory" could be a 
threat to China.  Hou, who published his theories in an 
August 
2008 article in the popular magazine Nanfeng Chuang entitled 
"The Ghost of Pan-Mongolianism," told PolOff that Japanese 
and 
Indian activists were working to popularize the idea that 
China's Inner Mongolia should be part of Mongolia.  While Hou 
admitted to PolOff that neither the Indian or Japanese 
governments officially promoted this idea, he claimed that 
Japanese scholars in particular had been successful in 
popularizing it.  Asked about the danger posed by Pan- 
Mongolianism, Huang Ying said that some "voices do exist" 
that 
promoted the concept, but these people were not influential. 
Both Wang Hao and Battsetseg agreed, noting that the theory 
was only a legacy of history. 
 
TIP an Issue 
------------ 
 
¶8. (SBU) The trafficking of Mongolian women to China was 
becoming a significant problem, Mongolian Embassy Consul 
General Ariunbold Yadmaa told PolOff September 10.  According 
to Ariunbold, the border town of Erlian (aka Erenhot), 
through 
which three to seven thousand Mongolians passed through 
Erlian 
every day, was the main transit point for trafficking victims 
traveling from Mongolia to China, and Macau appeared to be a 
common destination for trafficked Mongolian women.  Consul 
General Ariunbold said his research indicated that in 2007, 
nearly 98 percent of Mongolians entering Macau were female. 
To combat the problem, the Mongolian diplomatic mission in 
China was working with local law enforcement officials in 
Erlian and Macau to identify and assist victims. 
 
PRC Mongolia Expertise Lacking 
 
BEIJING 00002724  003 OF 003 
 
 
------------------------------ 
 
¶9. (C) Both Wang Hao and Huang Ying agreed that China lacked 
many experts in Mongolian language and culture.  Wang noted 
that her department at Peking University had been tasked with 
training students in Mongolian for jobs in government and 
academia.  (Note:  Both Huang Ying and MFA Mongolia desk 
officer Zhang Yishi had been Wang's students.)  A Beijing- 
based Mongolian businesswoman who got her start teaching 
Mongolian in China lamented to PolOff that while the study of 
Chinese language had become popular in Mongolia, there was 
little interest in Mongolian studies in China. 
HUNTSMAN