Oriental Studies (Jun 2023)
The Kyakhta Railway: A Geoeconomic Project of the Russian Empire Aimed at Developing Trade Relations with China and Mongolia
Abstract
Introduction. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Imperial Russia tended to prioritize the creation of trade and transport communications with countries of the East, which was vividly manifested in a number of projects, such as the Trans-Siberian Railway, Chinese Eastern Railway, and South Manchuria Railway. In this regard, not that widely known remains the Kyakhta Railway project, which implied a construction of a railway line from the Trans-Siberian Railway to Kyakhta with subsequent access to the territory of Mongolia. Goals. The paper attempts an analysis of how the concept of the Kyakhta Railway was evolutionizing throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and seeks to reveal some key features arising from the latter’s geoeconomic and geopolitical objectives. Materials and methods. The work involves understudied materials stored at the Russian State Historical Archive, and methodologically rests on a systemic historical approach that secures insights into the development of the project from the perspectives of Imperial Russia’s political and economic interests and opportunities across Asia at the turn of the 20th century. Results. The conducted analysis of documents shows how the Kyakhta Railway project was actually developing. So, the earliest initiatives to build a railway line from Kyakhta to China’s northern borders were announced at the beginning of the 20th century, after Chinese authorities decided to lay a Beijing–Kalgan railway line. The Government was showing interest in the project under study in the direct aftermath the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905. And the project’s complete concept was introduced in a special note prepared by Kyakhta-based merchants in 1910 — to be finally approved in 1913. However, the outbreak of WWI postponed its implementation indefinitely. The article examines each stage in the shaping of the Kyakhta Railway project with emphases be laid on its geoeconomic and geopolitical objectives. The paper shows the project was viewed as a means to solve the then problems of Russian-Chinese and Russian-Mongolian trade, stimulate Eastern Siberia’s economy, fulfill transit potentials of Russia, and strengthen our geopolitical influence in the territory of Mongolia. Conclusions. The work attests to the Kyakhta Railway project was systemic and multifactorial by nature, illustrates its essential place in the overall geoeconomic strategies of the Russian Empire.
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