When the Qing collapsed in 1912, the newly established Republic of China found itself in dire need situation to protect its newly acquired border; both Tibet and Outer Mongolia declared their independence from China, but they were not recognized by the Republic of China. Therefore, the Republic of China focused its efforts on consolidating their control over Chinese territories and refused to embrace expansionist policy. The Republic of China, however, faced numerous pressure from the expansionist Empire of Japan in 1915, with the Twenty-One Demands caused public uproars. It also faced strong opposition from the Soviet Union, which also embraced expansionist policy, leading to the border conflict of 1929. The Soviets and Japanese meddling into Chinese affairs and the lack of compromises from Western leaders over Japanese and Russian expansionism made the work difficult, as Russia had interests with regard to Xinjiang, and Japanese invasion in northeast China at 1931. On the same time, the Chinese Civil War also prevented any attempts of a possible Chinese expansion.