For the presentation I discussed how the most pressing issue in Mongolia was that of the Ukraine war. The Ukraine was very much an issue for all of the world right now. but Mongolia in particular is impacted in many ways by the war. Mongolia is landlocked and sandwiched between Russia and China. This puts Mongolia in a difficult situation under normal circumstances and even more so in wartime.
Mongolia relies heavily on Russia economically as Mongolia has no ports of its own and needs to use those of Russia and China to trade. The vast majority of Mongolian imports also come from Russia and China. Mongolia was for many years trying to become more friendly to western nations in order to become less dependent, but with a war going on Russia of course expects Mongolia to support them, as does China who have been a constant threat to Mongolia’s sovereignty since Mongolia gained independence and became a democracy. Due to this Mongolia is in a very tough spot with so much of their economy being reliant on a country that is currently the biggest enemy to NATO. Perhaps due to the inevitability and very little that Mongolia can do in this situation they cannot be held responsible. On the other hand Russia and China are very capable of crippling Mongolia’s economy, which is why I consider the Ukraine war to be the most pressing issue for Mongolia right now.
