Tokyo: A journal on Mongol – Tibet relations and the Treaty of 1913 in Japanese was released at a function organised by the Southern Mongolian Congress on 14 September 2024 at the Nakano Ward office among scholars, Tibet and Mongolian supporters, and media representatives. The journal is the compilation of the papers submitted by the scholars and panelists last year on the 110th Anniversary of the Mongol – Tibet Friendship and Mutual Recognition Treaty signed between Mongolia and Tibet on 11 January 1913.
Japanese scholar Miura Kotaro welcomed the panelists and the participants and moderated the event. Yoshida Koichiro of the Nakano Local Assembly greeted the participants and congratulated the organisers for the publication of important historical papers on the neglected issue of Mongol and Tibetan independence. He expressed his full support for the Tibetan and Southern Mongolian’s struggle and effort to get justice and freedom and to exert their part in historical narratives.
Representative Dr Tsewang Gyalpo Arya thanked the organisers for inviting him and talked about the importance of history, culture, and language, and how the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been trying to destroy the identity of Mongolia and Tibetan nationals and distort their history. He explained that China’s claim on Mongolia and Tibet based on the Yuan and Qing Dynasties’ hegemony in the past was baseless and a gross distortion of history. He further talked about the validity of the historical treaty of 1913 between the two nations and promised to publish the English version of the journal.
Dr Miyawaki Junko, an expert on Mongolian studies, briefed the audience on what really composed China and how other territories like Tibet and Mongolia were occupied territories. She talked about the importance of history and denounced the Chinese claim on Chinggis Khan and his dynasty as misleading and misinformation to confuse the international community.
Olhonud Daichin, Vice Chairman of the Southern Mongolia Congress, thanked the people involved in the publications of the July 2023 Mongol – Tibet Mutual Recognition Symposium’s papers and said that the 1913 Treaty between the two countries is still valid and the scholars should recognise it. He said Tibet and Mongolia had a far deeper historical relationship than China and that China’s claim on the Yuan dynasty is false and misleading.
Govrud Archa, Lecturer at Kobe University, and Lecturer S. Boyant of Toin University talked about their papers explaining how China occupied Southern Mongolia and forcefully implemented assimilative policies to sinicise the land and the people. The massive immigration of Han Chinese into the territory has made the Mongolians minority in their own country and urged the international community’s support in their struggle for freedom.
The question and answer session and interview of the panelists followed the function. Participants expressed satisfaction to know the Mongolian and Tibetan side of the story more closely.
-Report filed by the Office of Tibet, Japan