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China, Mongolia finalize 4,677-km border
(Kyodo)
Updated: 2005-11-30 16:23
Mongolian President Nambaryn Enkhbayar said Wednesday that China and Mongolia
have reached a final agreement on the exact demarcation of their 4,677-kilometer
border, the longest for both countries.
After four years of talks, Enkhbayar signed a series of border-related
agreements with Chinese leaders in Beijing, giving Mongolia for the first time
in recent history a fully defined national boundary.
The two countries also agreed to install 1,513 border demarcation posts,
Enkhbayar said at a press conference in Beijing.
Neither country's size changes as a result of the border agreement, Mongolian
Foreign Minister Tsend Munh-Orgil said.
Mongolia signed a border agreement with Russia, its only other neighbor, in
2003. Mongolia's territory has shifted numerous times over centuries of conquest
and conflict with its neighbors.
"So now we have our borderline clearly defined and checked and signed
officially," Enkhbayar said, adding that the agreement would be recognized by
the United Nations and other international agencies.
The two nations also agreed to respect each other's full independence.
"Both sides reaffirmed an agreement of mutual respect for independence,
sovereignty, territorial integrity and all kinds of self-chosen paths to
development, never to impose military or political alliances on the other and
not to sign anything that hurts the rights or interests of the other," the
countries said in a joint statement.
The border was one of many meaty issues that Enkhbayar
and 10 other Mongolian officials took up with senior Chinese officials,
including President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao. Enkhbayar is spending five
days in China on his first official visit since being elected May 22. He arrived
in China on Monday.
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