Mongolian Prime Minister with the US Vice President Kamala Harris
Photo: The Diplomat
By Nirmal P. Acharya
Recently, Mongolian Prime Minister Oyun-Erdene Luvsannamsrain visited the US, to celebrate the strong and growing bilateral relations. Prime Minister Oyun-Erdene called the US as Mongolia’s “strategic third neighbor” and its “pole star for Mongolia’s road to democracy”.
Meanwhile, the US praised Mongolia as “an oasis of democracy” and affirmed that Mongolia is an important partner in promoting the Indo-Pacific strategy of the US. The two sides also decided to jointly explore their rare earth resources in order to defuse potential problems caused by China’s control of rare earth exports to the US.
Mongolia is a nation surrounded by Russia to the north and China to the south and has no third neighbor geographically. In this regard, it has the same geographical situation as Nepal.
Thus, Mongolia put forward the concept of a “strategic third neighbor”. That third neighbor, of course, is the US.
As I understand it, some politicians in our country are in favor of the MCC despite the existence of provisions that clearly infringe on our sovereignty, probably because of the macro-strategic consideration of introducing a “strategic third country”.
If there really is a secret plan for building a “strategic third neighbor” in the safe deposit boxes of our policymakers, I have three suggestions.
One is to slow down. Mongolia is vigorously implementing the strategy of “strategic third neighbor”. Let us wait and see so as to have an opportunity to assess the practical and concrete results of Mongolia’s implementation of this strategy. If under this strategy Mongolia wins a peaceful and prosperous country, we should follow. If it doesn’t work, we don’t have to pursue this strategy.
Second, guard against “color revolution”. After the US is introduced as a “strategic third neighbor” it is inevitable that Nepal has its own strategy and the US has its own. If Nepal does not obey the strategy of the US, the US will step along and launch a color revolution. This must be thought of in advance, and countermeasures must be worked out in advance.
Third, we need to win India’s cooperation. Treating the US as a “strategic third neighbor”, needless to say, China will be disgusted and vigilant. India, for now, is likely to give some acquiescence, even cooperation. This is where we have an advantage over Mongolia. Mongolia is certain to face simultaneous resistance from its two geographic neighbors, Russia and China.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect People’s Review’s editorial stance.
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