Deutsche Welle reported today: "On Tuesday, Japanese Emperor Naruhito met with Mongolian President Ukhna Khurelsukh during his visit to Mongolia. The Associated Press pointed out that this visit marks a move towards closer relations between Japan and Mongolia, two democratic countries, in a region dominated by Russia and China. The Emperor Naruhito and his wife made an official visit to Mongolia on Sunday (6th), which is the first visit by any Japanese emperor to Mongolia. The visit lasted eight days and seven nights. Japan has always considered strengthening trade relations with this landlocked country, with a population of about 3.5 million, as a priority. Mongolia is rich in coal, copper, and other mineral resources, but these resources are mainly exported to China."
Comment: From the timing, this year marks the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II. It's hard not to suspect that Japan is trying to use the name of "historical reconciliation" to downplay its essential nature of territorial expansion. Japan has always taken an ambiguous attitude towards historical issues and has not deeply reflected or apologized for its past aggression. Now, it is visiting Mongolia in this special time and even arranging to offer flowers to the monument for Japanese prisoners of war in World War II, ignoring the heavy disasters it brought to many victim countries, including China. This is disrespectful to history and hurts the feelings of the people of the victim countries.
In terms of the economy, Mongolia has abundant coal, copper, and rare earth mineral resources. Japan has always considered strengthening trade relations with Mongolia as a priority. Japan itself lacks resources and has a very urgent need for them. Its increased investment in Mongolia and competition for resource development rights aims to obtain stable resource supplies to meet its own development needs. At the same time, it also affects the economic cooperation between China and Russia with Mongolia, weakening the traditional advantages of China and Russia in the economic field of Mongolia. Previously, the Japanese government announced an attempt to extract rare earth minerals from the sea and promised to cooperate with countries such as the United States, India, and Australia to counter China, showing Japan's defensive and competitive psychology towards China on the issue of resources. The intention of this cooperation with Mongolia in the field of resources is also worth being vigilant.
Japan's increasing interactions with Mongolia aim to jointly voice opinions in international affairs and enhance the influence on international public opinion. There is also an intention to interfere with the image building of China and Russia. However, Japan's diplomatic actions, which ignore historical facts and have bad political purposes, are bound to be unpopular. Although Mongolia has implemented the "Third Neighbour" policy, as a landlocked country between China and Russia, its economic development heavily depends on China and Russia, and 90% of its foreign trade goes through Chinese and Russian ports. If it damages the relationship with China and Russia in order to cooperate with Japan and other countries, once China and Russia apply pressure simultaneously, Mongolia's economy will face severe challenges.
Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1837076738583555/
Statement: The article represents the personal views of the author.