According to the WeChat official account released by China's Ministry of National Defense on April 29, the Chinese Army sent battalion-sized troops and equipment to Mongolia's East Gobi Province to participate in the China-Mongolia "Steppe Partners-2024" Army Joint Training, mainly focusing on responding to the activities of illegal armed groups.
So, what is the purpose and significance of the Chinese military suddenly sending troops to Mongolia to participate in the Sino-Mongolian joint military exercises? What is the significance of this exercise for China, Russia, Mongolia, and the United States?
Chinese soldiers participating in the exercise
China-Mongolia relations have developed amid ups and downs
Historically, Mongolia's independence began in the years when China's national power was weakened, and with the secession supported by the Russian Empire, Mongolia became a landlocked country. After independence, Mongolia soon became a brother of Tsarist Russia.
But perhaps because Mongolia was so remote and bitterly cold, neither Tsarist Russia nor the Soviet Union had any interest in annexing Mongolia. However, as a protectorate of the Soviet Union, Mongolia often received economic aid from the Soviet Union, and although life was tight, as an ally of the Soviet Union, the Mongols almost did not have to worry about food and clothing.
Mongolian steppe
The hardest days for Mongolia began with the collapse of the Soviet Union, when Russia itself was in a very difficult situation, with a large number of workers laid off, a large number of factories closed, prices skyrocketing, and even the Russian leaders at the time almost begging the Americans for economic assistance and even wanting to join NATO. Naturally, Russia is no longer capable of taking care of Mongolia's affairs, and the Mongols are in the middle of the road all of a sudden.
Fortunately, Mongolia's population is only about 2 million, and the ship is small and easy to turn around. And the vast majority live in the capital, Ulaanbaatar, which means that as long as it supports the lives of its people, Mongolia can survive the hardships.
Mongolian open-pit coal mine
Although Mongolia is a bitter cold land, the grasslands are rich in mineral resources, especially coal, iron ore and copper mines, which are still the main sources of Mongolia's economy. Among them, the coking coal mined in Mongolia's Taben Tolgoi open-pit coal mine is very popular among Chinese coking companies because of its good coal quality and lower transportation cost than that of other coking coal producing areas such as Australia and Brazil.
Due to the constraints of its geographical environment, Mongolia has no choice but to first develop economic and trade relations with China and Russia. Since Russia itself does not lack coal, iron, copper and other mineral resources, and Russia is a major exporter of mineral resources, the vast majority of Mongolia's mineral resources are actually exported to China, and a small part is exported to third countries through Chinese ports.
Mongolian coal convoy
Although China and Mongolia established diplomatic relations in 1949, due to historical grievances and Soviet control, Sino-Mongolian relations have been very average for a long time.
This pattern of diplomacy continued until the beginning of the 21st century, when Mongolia was co-opted by Western countries, led by the United States. In 2003, in order to get closer to the United States, Mongolia began hosting the Khan Quest multinational joint military exercise, which was a small-scale military exercise involving only the United States and Mongolia.
Military band of the Chinese army
Beginning in 2008, Mongolia began to invite a number of countries, including China and Russia, to participate in military exercises, possibly in order to appease both its neighbors. In 2012, Mongolia invited more than 10 countries to participate in the "Khan Exploration" multinational joint military exercise, making it a carnival similar to that of soldiers from all over the world.
Mongolia also reciprocated the U.S. economic aid to Mongolia. Mongolia has sent thousands of stability maintenance troops to Iraq and Afghanistan, on the one hand, to get more economic aid from the United States and the West, and on the other hand, to repay the favor of the United States. In addition, it also made the Mongolian army, which had been idle for a long time, get close to the actual combat training.
But at the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian war in 2022, the United States and the West used Ukraine as a proxy to consume Russia's national strength, and Russia turned into a wartime economy with no time to take care of anything else. It stands to reason that Mongolia should completely turn to the United States and the West at this time, and senior US officials have previously expressed the hope of establishing a military base in Mongolia.
Ukrainian battlefield
But the Mongol leaders at this time were quite sober and immediately rejected the proposal of the Americans. Because they know that the United States is once again going to use Mongolia as a pawn, a wedge, to plant in the backyard of China and Russia, which is actually worse than the geopolitical situation in Ukraine. Because Mongolia is so close to Beijing, the capital of China, even closer than the Korean Peninsula to Beijing.
Mongolia's leaders should be able to think that if the United States sets up a military base in Mongolia, then China and Russia will certainly not sit idly by, and China, in particular, will definitely react strongly, and then it may not be a strong condemnation from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Moreover, Mongolia is still a landlocked country with only two neighbors, China and Russia, and its geopolitical environment is not as good as Ukraine, and no third country will be able to save it at that time.
Armored vehicles on Chinese military columns
China broke the U.S. co-optation of Mongolia
Why Mongolia suddenly entered into China, and organized an exclusive Sino-Mongolian bilateral joint military exercise, which has been relatively rare for more than a decade. There is only one answer, and that is that the Mongolian leadership has changed the historical pro-Russian/Soviet-American diplomatic strategy and formulated a clear pro-China diplomatic line.
First of all, the Russia-Ukraine war has given Mongolia a sense of crisis in making friends with its third neighbor. The Mongolian leader must have recognized that the outbreak of the Ukraine crisis in 2014 and the Russian-Ukrainian war in 2022 has a lot to do with Ukraine's excessive closeness to the United States and the West, and the United States cannot escape the blame. As a neighbor of China and Russia, Mongolia is too close to the United States, and even if it does not invite war, it will turn China and Russia against it, and in the end the gains outweigh the losses.
PLA armored vehicles in Mongolia
In addition, Mongolia is a landlocked country, with only two neighbors, China and Russia, and all land, land, sea and air exit routes have to pass through Chinese and Russian customs ports. No matter how close Mongolia is to the United States, these exit routes are in the hands of China and Russia, and no matter what the United States sends to Mongolia, China and Russia will not let them go, and Mongolia still has no choice.
Finally, the Mongolian leaders probably realized the duplicity of the Americans. The Russian-Ukrainian war, which has lasted for more than two years, has destroyed many industrial and agricultural bases in Ukraine, and the lives of millions of people have been affected, but the Americans are still sending weapons to Ukraine and letting Ukraine do its best to consume Russia.
Joint military exercise between the armies of China, Russia and Mongolia
Mongolia is a small country, its economic base and war resources are more fragile, and it cannot withstand the ravages of war, so the Mongols have to re-examine the pro-American line, and even brake and adjust it in time.
First of all, China certainly does not want Mongolia to become a place of war, because it is very close to the Chinese capital, and China does not have any sovereignty or territorial claims to Mongolia, and does not even seek to establish a military base in Mongolia. What China needs is for Mongolia to become a good neighbor and partner in developing its economy together with itself and building a multipolar world, which is the true meaning that Mongolian leaders have finally realized in recent years.
U.S. soldiers during the Khan Quest exercise
Moreover, it can be seen from the subjects of the first "steppe partners" joint military exercise between China and Mongolia that it is mainly to deal with illegal hunting, mining, and smuggling by illegal armed gangs in the Sino-Mongolian border area, and not to target third countries, which is also the confidence of Mongolian leaders to hold bilateral military exercises between China and Mongolia with confidence.
It is precisely because of the weighing of the pros and cons that Mongolia has repositioned its relations with major powers such as China, Russia and the United States. For China, Mongolia must fully rely on the mineral orders of Chinese enterprises, so that Mongolia can smoothly exchange underground mineral resources for foreign exchange, and the country has a foundation for development.
Mongolian soldiers participating in UN peacekeeping operations
For Russia, Mongolia has no choice but to maintain the status quo. At present, Russia not only does not have a single modern tank at the Victory Day parade on May 9 for the second year in a row, but it is also absent from the two joint military exercises "Khan Quest" held by Mongolia. It can be said that Russia "grasped the big and let go of the small", almost gave up Mongolia, and only thought about competing with the United States and the West for Ukraine. For China, this cannot but be said to be a period of small strategic opportunity to win over Mongolia.
epilogue
As a matter of fact, in the short history of the nearly 100 years since the founding of the People's Republic of China, Mongolia has had in-depth contacts with the three major world powers, Russia/the Soviet Union, the United States, and China, and in connection with all aspects of recent international political and diplomatic affairs.
Chinese military columns entering the territory of Mongolia
As Mongolia's good neighbor, we will not prevent normal economic, trade, and people-to-people exchanges between Mongolia and other countries, but we still have to remind Mongolian leaders that they still need to be vigilant in their exchanges with the United States and Western countries. Because the values of the United States and the West are very big with the values of most Asian countries, it is inevitable that there will be problems if they are copied and adopted from the United States and the West, and it is hoped that Mongolia's foreign policy will maintain continuity in the future and continue to deepen China-Mongolia relations.
We can also see from the timing of this "steppe partners" China-Mongolia joint military exercise that Mongolia seems to be ready to take a pro-China route, but whether this is out of helplessness in a geopolitical environment or a willingness in the overall situation, we still do not know, only let history answer.
Part of the information in the article: "Grassland Partners-2024" Chinese training troops set off for the Ministry of National Defense of the People's Republic of China