In February 2020, China’s Ministry of National Defense delivered 100,000 vaccine doses, donated specifically to Mongolian military personnel. This indicates a high level of collaboration between the two militaries, who had previously been belligerents in the 1920s as well as during the Sino-Soviet tensions of the 1960–80s. Mongolia’s military ties with China are centered on developmental assistance and confidence-building measures such as these and other forms of cooperation including military exchanges.
In January 2021, the US Department of Defense conducted the 17th annual US–Mongolia Bilateral Consultative Council, where officials reaffirmed their support for a free and open Indo-Pacific. Also that month, NATO’s Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoana held a virtual opening ceremony with the Mongolian Ministry of Defense of a centre to strengthen Mongolia’s cyber defence capabilities.
As geopolitical tensions increase among major powers, it is increasingly difficult for small states to remain neutral. But Mongolia’s small military sets a model for contributing to global peace and stability while investing in confidence building.
After two decades of commitment to peacekeeping, Mongolia now ranks 23rd on the list of countries contributing troops to the United Nations. This makes Mongolia the second largest troop contributor from the Northeast and Central Asia region after the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Mongolia’s military contingents and hospitals have deployed to UN missions in Chad, Sierra Leone and Sudan, with a battalion currently deployed in South Sudan.
Mongolia has also become a steadfast contributor to US and NATO military operations. From 2003 onwards, Mongolia dispatched 1200 military personnel to serve in Iraq and over 4500 personnel to Afghanistan. Over 250 Mongolian military personnel are serving alongside the US and German militaries in Afghanistan.
The US Department of Defense identifies Mongolia as a ‘reliable, capable and natural partner’ in the same vein as Singapore, New Zealand and Taiwan. The United States also supported Mongolia’s initiative of converting its Soviet-style military base into a state-of-art regional peacekeeping centre known as the Five Hills Training Centre.
Jointly with the United States, Mongolia hosts an annual peacekeeping exercise, Khaan Quest, the only regional peacekeeping tactical exercise. Khaan Quest welcomes the PLA along with militaries from the United States, Japan, South Korea, Australia and NATO members.
In terms of cooperation with Europe, Mongolia has experience working with the Belgian military in Afghanistan and Kosovo, with Polish units in Iraq, and currently with the German military in Afghanistan. Such deployments enabled Mongolia to receive military technical assistance and conduct joint training exercises in preparation. In 2005, NATO established a Partnership and Cooperation Programme with Mongolia and in 2012, Mongolia became one of the nine NATO partners across the globe.
Mongolia’s delicate geopolitical context limits its cooperation with NATO members to training, education and peace-support operations — rather than acquiring military hardware to increase its arms and weaponry. Mongolia’s amicable military collaboration with NATO members contributed to its membership of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe in 2012.
Meanwhile, Mongolia pays special attention to its ties with Russia. In a strategic partnership treaty between the two countries in 2019, defence cooperation became a crucial component in reviving military technical cooperation, assisting Mongolia in modernising its weaponry.
Since 2008, the joint Russia–Mongolia bilateral exercise Selenge has been organised annually. During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the two countries conducted a joint command post exercise. And when Russia had the third-highest toll of COVID-19 infections, the Mongolian military marched in the Victory Day Parade, marking the 75th anniversary of the Soviet victory in the Second World War in which Mongolia stood as a close ally.
Looking back, it is clear that Mongolia’s military has overcome the transitional challenges it faced in the 1990s — a drawdown of more than 50 per cent of troops, sharp budget cuts and an end to its alliance with the Soviet Union. While Mongolia’s military has been reconstructed and played a visible role in building the country’s foreign policy objectives since, the country’s military diplomacy balancing act may become more challenging as the United States, China and Russia ramp up competing geopolitical agendas.
If tensions continue to escalate, Mongolia may end up back in the Cold War-like external settings it experienced in the 1960s–70s — stuck between Russia, China and the West. In such a scenario, Mongolia’s record of investment in military confidence-building efforts and balanced collaboration between sides may allow the country to avoid being pulled in any one direction, keeping it centred as a neutral party and potential balanced mediator.
Mendee Jargalsaikhan is a Deputy Director at the Institute for Defence Studies of Mongolia.