Mongolia, a squeezed outpost of democracy in north-east Asia, is under renewed pressure from its authoritarian neighbours, Russia and China, to shed its independence and form a triangle of anti-western cooperation in the wake of the war in Ukraine.
The country is doggedly pursuing a path of neutrality, coupled with a policy of economic diversification designed to keep its unique culture and still relatively recent independence alive, according to Nomin Chinbat, its culture secretary.
A Soviet satellite state until 1990, and heavily dependent on China as a market and conduit for its copper and coal exports, Mongolia has to tread carefully. It is three times the size of France but has a population of only 3.5 million, half of whom live in the capital, Ulaanbaatar.
So far it has dodged a definitive position on Ukraine by abstaining in major UN votes. However, its governing Mongolian People’s party is attending briefings given by United Russia,…
