Outer Mongolia has been firmly under the control of the Soviet Union since its declaration of independence in 1911. Not only did they establish a pro-Soviet regime under the control of the Soviet Union, but they also actively moved closer to the Soviet Union in terms of social system and mode of production.
As a buffer zone between China and the Soviet Union, it not only had a huge Soviet garrison on its territory, but even at the critical juncture of World War II, it did its best to provide "bankrupt" assistance to the Soviet Union.
And the Soviet Union, after relieving itself from the war, vigorously supported Mongolia's industrial construction. From the 50s to the late 80s of the last century, Mongolia achieved economic take-off by relying on mining, smelting and animal husbandry.
However, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Mongolia lost external support, its own industrial structure was single, and it suffered setbacks in social reform.
Over the decades, various contradictions crisscrossed the country, and Mongolia became one of the few poor countries in East Asia.
On the other hand, in the Inner Mongolia region of the mainland, under the blowing of the spring breeze of reform, people not only still maintain their national character, but also move towards the envy of Mongolians through animal husbandry, tourism, mining and other industries.
Since they are two neighboring countries, why has Mongolia not continued to achieve its glory through trade with the mainland for decades?
Poor root one: single industry, lack of foundation for the country
The steppe civilization has one distinctive feature that distinguishes it from other civilizations, and that is its mobility.
Just as pastoralists live on water and grass, Mongolians are sensitive to changes in the natural climate. When the border is not so obvious, they can drive their cattle and sheep to distant places to graze, and then move back when the local pastures are restored the next year.
Mongolia has a country of 1.5 million square kilometers, with a population of more than 3 million, more than 90% of the country's people are engaged in animal husbandry, and cattle and sheep have exceeded 10 million.
Such a large number obviously requires a large enough number of pastures to sustain it, but today's clear borders have greatly limited the space for their movement.
Once the scale breaks through the limit, it is difficult to grow upward, and there is a competition between people and livestock for living space, which belongs to the relationship between one and the other. If there is a shortage of manpower, the country cannot develop, and if there is a shortage of livestock, the country will still not be able to develop, and it is a state that is difficult to maintain balance.
In addition, natural disasters and downward fluctuations in international markets can also have a negative impact on the livestock sector.
A natural disaster in 2000 and 2002 directly caused Mongolia's livestock industry to shrink by 30%, not only causing a large number of people to lose their jobs, but also bankrupting many herders.
At that time, the mining industry supported by the Soviets was also sluggish, and when the Soviets were there, they would exchange various types of minerals from Mongolia in the form of barter.
But after the disintegration, Russia cannot protect itself, how can it have the ability to manage the life and death of Mongolia?
Mongolia, which has lost foreign aid, is heading for recession, and the country's population has plummeted with a single source of economy.
Without a sufficient population to rely on, the country is stuck in a cycle of economic downturn.
So why hasn't Mongolia developed other industries for so long?
Poor root two: the sixteenth "union republic" of the Soviet Union, lacking independence
As we all know, the former Soviet Union had a total of 15 republics, but Mongolia's close relationship with the Soviet Union led the outside world to call it the 16th "union republic" of the Soviet Union.
The Soviet Union was a country with a planned economic system, and in order to achieve the optimal allocation of resources, it divided its heavy industry areas into Belarus in Europe, the European part west of the Ural Mountains in Russia, and Ukraine, and positioned the five Central Asian countries and Mongolia as the development of animal husbandry and mining.
When modern civilization was established on the basis of industrial development, the country of Mongolia was artificially stuck in the distant steppe civilization.
If the Soviet Union could continue to exist, then Mongolia would still be able to obtain the industrial goods needed for life from the territory of the Soviet Union, and once the Soviet Union collapsed, it would become a motherless child, and it would have to rely on the sky for food.
At this time, even if it wants to develop other industries, it encounters new problems.
Poor root three: the social system that is difficult to return
In the 80s of the last century, irreversible problems appeared in the Soviet system, and in the face of the imminent reforms, the anxious Gorbachev actually adopted the "new thinking" of emancipatory ideology, which led to the awakening of national consciousness in the domestic republics.
In the face of economic regression, these nationalists soon developed a separatist force.
When the five Central Asian states of the Soviet Union were separated, Mongolia was also thinking about this issue.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia took the lead in turning to the West and adopted "shock therapy" at home, hoping to quickly leapfrog into the capitalist economic system and achieve rapid national development.
Other former republics followed suit and carried out similar economic reforms at home. As a result, this failed reform eventually brought them all down, and as a result, the economies of many countries have not recovered.
Mongolia abandoned its socialist system in 1991 and followed Russia's internal example in carrying out reforms, and as a result, like Russia, economic and political oligarchs were quickly born in Mongolia. These people control the economic lifeblood of the country, and in order to quickly pursue personal interests, blindly develop the mining industry, which has led to the deterioration of the environment and the withering of grasslands. Not only did the telecommunications, processing and manufacturing, and high-tech electronics industries, which lead the future, not develop, but also the animal husbandry industry, on which it depended for its survival, was also hit.
There is no shortage of countries in the world that have made their fortunes by selling resources, but why hasn't Mongolia stood up?
Poor root four: the mining industry that can't be mentioned
Like oil, ore is an indispensable "food" for modern industrial countries. In order to seek development, many countries will buy large quantities of ore from countries with rich mineral resources.
Mongolia is rich in mineral resources, and in the Soviet era, it relied on the export of ore in exchange for its industrial materials.
Now, after the restructuring of Mongolia, it faces the entire international market, and can show its skills to do business with buyers from all over the world. While these ideas sound great, they can be extremely difficult to implement.
In the past, the Soviet Union regarded it as its own backyard, and could send cars in and out of the Mongolian border at will, penetrate deep into the mining areas, and even haul ore without even the necessary formalities between the two countries.
But when Mongolia achieved true independence, it found that its country had only one train line, and its roads were dilapidated enough to meet the growing demand for ore.
In terms of selling ore at the same price in the international market, Mongolia's ore does not have any advantage at all, but because of backward transportation, it has lower profits and cannot be raised at all.
In fact, this situation has occurred in many developing countries, but Mongolia has been dragged firmly into the quagmire of hardship by another dead end.
Poor root five: blind arrogance
Most of the nations that exist in the world today have their glorious moments in history. In particular, the Mongol Empire, which conquered most of the world, is still remembered by future generations.
While worshipping Genghis Khan, people are actually showing off themselves. But once this pride goes beyond the normal range, it becomes blind arrogance.
Such a mentality makes it difficult for them to come out of the millennium dream, and it is even more difficult for them to bend down and cooperate with other countries, especially China, which is also a rising star of the East Asian nation.
At that time, China was poor and white, but when the reform and opening up arrived, the Chinese immediately seized the opportunity, faced with the opportunity of Western countries to come to inspect and exchange, took the initiative to stretch out their enthusiastic hands, set up attractive preferential policies, and welcomed the outside world to invest.
With the cooperation of the Chinese government, these foreign-funded enterprises came to set up factories with advanced equipment and management methods, which not only solved the employment problem of a large number of people, but also played a role in promoting China's development.
In this case, although foreign-funded enterprises have made money, our country has built a more scientific modern industrial model under the cultivation of these enterprises.
Then, through the government's macroeconomic control, the scientific researchers in these foreign enterprises began to seek entrepreneurship and innovation, and seek better development for themselves and the country.
This model of service outsourcing is actually very common in modern society, and it can be called a low-cost, high-return project in developing countries, which has great benefits for long-term development.
However, the Mongols did not accept this model, and there has always been a sense of xenophobia in both the government and individuals.
This extreme xenophobia naturally makes foreign investors very cautious, which makes Mongolia miss the opportunity to borrow the chicken to lay eggs.
Poor root six: insurmountable laziness
When the Ming Dynasty was first established, Zhu Yuanzhang commented: Yuan Yileng lost the world.
This "wideness" is the looseness of the system, and one of them is reflected in taxation. Today, Mongolia still does not pay enough attention to a strict tax system.
It has a low starting point for trade import duties, which leads to low prices for imported products, especially industrial goods, from abroad.
When those cars that cost hundreds of thousands to buy on the mainland, they only need about 100,000 in Mongolia to get them.
In this case, the state does not earn enough from tax revenues to fill the treasury, and low prices have created a reluctance to develop their own industries, and they only want to buy products from abroad in low-margin industries such as mining and livestock products.
This situation will only cause them to stay in the same place for a long time, or even fall further behind.
To sum up, Mongolia cannot cure its six major roots of poverty, and even if it is sandwiched between China and Russia, it will not be able to develop under China's proposed "One Belt, One Road".
While Inner Mongolia is growing stronger while preserving its traditions, it is unclear what the future holds for Mongolia.