Dr. / Ezz El-Din Al-Wardani
Researcher specializing in Central Asian affairs
A region enjoys autonomy within China since 1947 AD – it is a symbolic autonomy as is the East Turkestan and Tibet. its capital is "Hoyhot", its area reaches to 1,183 million km2, which takes up 12% of the total area of China and it is the third-largest province among the autonomous regions. It is situated in the north of China and its border reaches 4000 km along with the Republic of Mongolia and Russia. Its population is around 25.2 million formed with 49 ethnic groups, Han ethnicity being the largest. The indigenous Mongolians who are the landowners represent 17.1% of the total population, 70% of them are inhabiting in about 18% of the total area, while the population of Han Chinese reach to 79.2%. The large migrations of Han people to the region since the 18th century has led to increase in their numbers, as it has been the Chinese colonial policy aimed at changing the population composition in all its colonies in favor of the Han. By the way, the Chinese statistics does not include the Chinese army and the police force in the statistics despite their settlement with their families in all the areas occupied by China.
The region is famous for its extensive pastures and produces 55% of the milk production in China, and it is one of the largest producers of Kashmiri wool in the world. Its pastures have deteriorated due to China’s draining towards them, the latter has resorted to the method of periodic grazing, displacement of shepherds and settling them in dwellings built of bricks, contrary to their tents and their traditional life and raising animals in sheds in order to maintain production.
Also the region has the largest coal reserves in China for about 660 billion tons, being the second largest producer in China which is mostly used to generate electricity, as it supplies 70% of the total electricity needs of the capital Beijing region. The region also have extensive trade with Russia.
Historical background
In the year 1227 AD the Mongols managed to invade China, and they overthrew the Western Xia Dynasty, then the Jin Dynasty in 1234 AD, and they continued to rule in China until the year 1368 AD known as in Chinese history – which often takes its own name which is different to what the nations call themselves – the Yuan Dynasty (1271 – 1368), It was removed from ruling by the Han Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) AD, and then the Mongol rule diminished and was displaced to the lands of their origin in the Mongolian plateau – the region currently known as Inner Mongolia, the Republic of Mongolia and some lands occupied by Russia – and Chinese sources call them with the Northern Yuan Dynasty (1368-1635) AD, which continued to rule the region until the Manchu or Qing Chinese Empire (1644-1911) managed to overthrow the Mongol rule and seize their lands by the end of the seventeenth century 1691 AD.
With the outbreak of the 1911 AD (Xinhai) Revolution in China that toppled the Qing Dynasty and declared the establishment of the National Republic of China; Mongolia declared its independence from China under the leadership of “Bogd Gegeen Khan”; the leader of the Tibetan Buddhist community in the country, with the support of Russian tsarists, which obtained trade concessions in the context of a bilateral treaty with independent Mongolia in 1912 AD. With the outbreak of the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917 AD, China occupied Mongolia with the help of the White Guard Russian Tsarists forces, and in 1921 AD, with the help of forces from the Russian Communist Red Army, the Mongolian People’s Army managed to defeat the Chinese forces and achieved the establishment of a socialist state in Mongolia. In 1924 AD, “Bogd Gegeen Khan” was killed, and the National Council declared the establishment of the Mongolian People’s Republic which was a dependent state to the former Soviet Union and was recognized by China in 1946 AD and was joined the membership of the United Nations in 1961 AD and remained a dependent state to the former Soviet Union until a popular revolution overthrew the ruling regime in 1990 AD, It was renamed Mongolia, a new constitution was issued in 1992 AD and it turned into a multi-party state and a market economy.
As for Inner Mongolia, Russia refused to support its independence to avoid conflict with China and Japan, which had influence and interests in the region, as the Eastern Inner Mongolia was under the control of the Chinese Republic of “Manchukuo” the creation of Japan. Russia forced the Mongolian People’s Republic – the outer – to recognize Chinese sovereignty over Inner Mongolia. The Soviet Union, China and Outer Mongolia rejected the unification of the Outer and Inner Mongolia as a single entity that includes the Mongol lands north of the Gobi Desert. And then in Inner Mongolia, a second Mongolian independence movement arose led by “Babu Jab”- one of the military leaders in the “Bogd Khan” regime – with the support and help from Japan. In 1925 AD, with the support of the Third Communist International Organization “Comintern” and the Mongolian People’s Republic, a rebellion movement began to obtain the independence of Inner Mongolia and the right to self-determination for the Mongolian people. The rebels allied with the Chinese “Kwantung” army of Japan during its invasion of the North Eastern China in 1931 – the Manchurian Incidents - A Prince emerged by “Dimshog Dongrab” – from the Inner Mongolian who struggled to achieve the independence of Inner Mongolia from China. In the year 1936, he announced the independence of the Mongolian lands in the Western Inner Mongolia from China and the establishment of the Republic of Minqiang “1963-1945” was declared with its capital “Kalgan”, while the Eastern Inner Mongolia was under the control of Republic of “Manchukuo”.
After the defeat of Japan in World War II, the regional leaders in Inner Mongolia tried to unify it with the Mongolian People’s Republic but to no avail. China launched brutal crackdowns against the Mongols and members of the separatist movement and was able to eradicate the independence movement of Inner Mongolia and then grant it autonomy in 1947 an until now, the autonomous region is still under the control of China. The Inner Mongolia region has been afflicted with a great deal of Chineseization and loss of national and cultural identity as a result of the Chinese Communist rule targeting the cultures of national minorities through the compulsive integration and assimilation policies imposed on minorities, and through the migration of large numbers of Han Chinese to minority areas to disrupt the balance of the population, bring the Han culture and impose it on those regions.
Several political movements have emerged demanding independence of the Inner Mongolia – sometimes called as Southern– led by the Mongols in the diaspora in Japan, Europe and the United States of America, such as the internal Mongolian People’s Party, the Mongolian Liberal Union Party, and the Southern Mongolian Democratic Alliance. Those organizations demand the separation of Inner Mongolia from China and to establish an independent state for the Mongols, or the union with Northern Mongolia (the Republic of Mongolia), and the establishment of a major state for the Mongols comprising all the lands that were considered the cradle of the origins of the Mongols.
Translated by Inaam Azizi
