Treaty of friendship and alliance between the Government of Mongolia and Tibet

A Treaty of friendship and alliance between the Government of Mongolia and Tibet was signed on February 2 [Udo B. Barkmann, "Geschichte der Mongolei", Bonn 1999, p.119-122,380f] , 1913, at Urga (now Ulaanbaatar). However, there are been doubts about the authority of the Tibetan signatories to conclude such a treaty, and therefore about whether it constitutes a valid contract [Smith, Warren, "Tibetan Nation", p186:"The validity is often questioned, mainly on grounds of the authority of Dorjiev to negotiate on behalf of Tibet...the fact that Dorjief was a Russian citizen while ethnically Tibetan somewhat compromises his role; the treaty had some advantages to Russia in that it could be interpreted as extending Russia's protectorate over Mongolia to encompass Tibet."] .

Treaty's signing and validity

After the fall of the Qing Dynasty in 1911, both Tibet and Mongolia declared their formal independence under lamaist heads of states, both had had no success in gaining official recognition from the Republic of China. In the treaty, Mongolia and Tibet declared mutual recognition and allegiance. The Mongolian representatives signing the treaty were foreign minister Da Lama Ravdan and General Manlaibaatar Damdinsüren. The Tibetan representatives who signed this document were Agvan Dorjiev, a Buryat, i.e. citizen of Russia, Chijamts, and Gendun-Galsan a Tibetan citizen. There exist some doubts to the validity of this treaty: the 13th Dalai Lama denied that he had authorized Dorjiev to negotiate a treaty with Mongolia. More importantly, neither the cleric nor the Tibetan government appeared to have ever ratified the treaty. Bell, Charles, "Tibet Past and Present", 1924, pp 150f, 228f, 304f.] The Russian government maintained that, as a Russian subject, Dorjiev could not possibly act in a diplomatic capacity on behalf of the Dalai Lama. [UK Foreign Office Archive: FO 371/1608; ] The Mongolian text of the treaty has, been published by the Mongolian Academy of Sciences in 1982. [Udo B. Barkmann, "Geschichte der Mongolei", Bonn 1999, p. 380f]

In any case, the independence of both Tibet and Mongolia continued not to be recognized by most other powers, which continued to recognize at least the sucerainty of the Republic of China over these areas. The interests of Western powers (particularly Russia and the United Kingdom) in these areas were guaranteed by treaties with the Qing dynasty which the Republic of China pledged to uphold. By recognizing the independence of Mongolia or Tibet, the Western powers might have invalidated those treaties. In addition, there was a concern among the Western powers (again particularly Russia and UK) that recognizing Tibetan or Mongolian independence would allow those areas to come under the other power's influence, respectively, a situation which all concerned believed to be worse than a situation in which those areas were nominally under the control of a weak China.

Aftermath

News of the treaty aroused considerable suspicion amongst the British negotiators at the Simla Convention, who feared that Russia might use the treaty to gain influence on Tibetan matters. While China ultimately did not sign the Simla Convention [Treaty text of the [http://www.tibetjustice.org/materials/treaties/treaties16.html Simla Convention of 1914] ] The Chinese government initialed but refused to ratify the Agreement. See Goldstein, Melvyn C., "A History of Modern Tibet", p75 for details] , a similar treaty, the tripartite Treaty of Kyakhta, was signed by Mongolia, the Republic of China and Russia on 25 May, 1915. [ [http://countrystudies.us/mongolia/26.htm Mongolia - Modern Mongolia, 1911-84] , Country Studies US] The agreement affirmed Mongolia's complete autonomy in internal matters and Russian privileges in Mongolia, at the same time formally recognized China's suzerainty over the country. [Treaty text quoted from B.L. Putnam Weale, [http://www.fullbooks.com/The-Fight-For-The-Republic-In-China8.html The Fight For The Republic In China] ]

Notes and References

See also

* History of Tibet

External links

* [http://www.tibetjustice.org/materials/treaties/treaties14.html English translation of the Treaty from Tibetan]