U.S. Ambassador affirms regular direct flights between Mongolia-U.S. possible in near future www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ Minister of Road and Transport Development L.Khaltar today, August 14 met with Ambassador of the United States of America to Mongolia Michael Klecheski.

US-China tensions: why Mongolia is in the middle of a new cold war www.scmp.com

Having been sandwiched between superpowers in not just one cold war, but two, it wouldn’t be surprising if Mongolia were unwilling to repeat the experience a third time.
It might not seem an obvious candidate as a geopolitical power broker but the huge landlocked country, with a population of just 3.3 million, is in the middle of a three-way tug of war between the United States, China and Russia for influence over Eurasia. Its predicament was highlighted by the (not entirely welcome) overtures from Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov last month, when Moscow vowed to support Ulan Bator should it apply to become a full member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), though he was also quick to add that Russia has no intention to “influence the choice of our Mongolian friends”.

While Mongolia has in the past expressed an interest in joining the Eurasian political, economic and security alliance – it gained “observer” status in 2004 – analysts say its desire to stay neutral in rising tensions between the US and China means it is likely to put any remaining SCO ambitions on ice.
Analysts say it fears being associated too closely with a grouping that has often been criticised as being anti-West and overly focused on security matters.
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“Some Mongolians don’t want to be caught up in the old Cold War-style geopolitics,” said Mendee Jargalsaikhan, a postgraduate research fellow at the Asia-Pacific Foundation of Canada. “Mongolia remembers its experience of being caught in the double cold war: between China versus the Soviet Union and the US versus the Soviet Union.”
During the Cold War, Mongolia was a satellite state of the Soviet Union, meaning it had little direct contact with the US, with whom it did not establish diplomatic ties until 1987. Similarly, in the 1960s, an ideological dispute that developed between China and the Soviet Union over the unity and leadership of the communist movement soured Mongolia’s relations with China. In both instances, Mongolia – which is physically sandwiched between China and Russia – felt it had little or no control over its relations with foreign countries.

That experience continues to shape its diplomatic relationships today and, having fought hard to build its own relationships, analysts say it is now thinking twice about joining a grouping that might jeopardise its relationship with the West.

Announced in 2001 and created the following year, the SCO initially comprised China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, with India and Pakistan coming on board in 2017. It has four observer countries – Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran and Mongolia – and six dialogue partners: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cambodia, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Turkey.
Apart from conducting regular military exercises responding to simulated terrorist attacks and other security threats, member states also work together to tackle drug trafficking and cyberwarfare.
Jargalsaikhan said that given the SCO’s anti-West reputation, Ulan Bator was unlikely to act on Russia’s invitation any time soon.

WHAT’S RUSSIA’S AGENDA?
Dmitry Stefanovich, a research fellow with the Centre for International Security at the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of World Economy and International Relations, said Moscow’s reaching out to Mongolia stemmed from its chairmanship of the SCO this year, “so some ambitious initiatives are important”.
Russia was keen to welcome Mongolia into the SCO because Ulan Bator’s military received Russian arms and took part in joint military exercises, Stefanovich said, giving the example of the Selenga drills which have been held annually since 2008 and were most recently held in August last year.
Stefanovich added that in Mongolia, Moscow’s influence served as a counterweight to those of the US and China.
However, Raffaello Pantucci, a senior associate fellow at London’s Royal United Services Institute, said there was another consideration for Russia, which was pushing for wider expansion of the SCO, including relookingIran’s membership bid.
“This reflects a general approach by Moscow to grow the organisation. This is a way to dilute Chinese influence and power in the organisation,” Pantucci said.

‘THIRD NEIGHBOUR STRATEGY’
After 16 years as an observer country, it might seem surprising that Mongolia would not jump at Russia’s offer. But Wang Jianjun, a researcher at China’s Charhar Institute, said its reticence to fully embrace the SCO was due to its “third neighbour country” policy, which emphasises its cooperation with developed and democratic Western countries.
At the heart of the strategy is Ulan Bator’s wish to build relationships with countries and economies other than Russia and China, the two superpowers that have historically influenced it. Among the countries Mongolia regards as “third neighbours” are the US, Japan, the European Union, India and South Korea.
“During the tenure of [former president] Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj, this strategy was strengthened, and this has had a substantial impact on Mongolia becoming a full SCO member,” Wang said.
Alicia Campi, a lecturer at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, said the consensus in Mongolia was to continue its observer status since many issues discussed in the SCO were “not high priority” for Mongolia or were covered by other international forums.
“Of course, Mongolia is against terrorism and extremism regionally and worldwide, but it recognises that Chinese and Russian cooperation in the SCO has many different objectives beyond those, and it knows that such cooperation has raised concerns among Mongolia’s partners in North America, Europe and Asia,” said Campi, who is also president of The Mongolia Society NGO.

Pantucci said that while President Khaltmaagiin Battulga was keen to participate further in the regional grouping, public opinion in the country was divided, as Mongolia had always seen itself as “different from the many authoritarian countries that dominate the SCO”.
Mongolia is often hailed as an “oasis of democracy” in the region, thanks to its popularly elected fixed-term presidency and a parliamentary system in which multiparty representatives are elected to four-year terms by direct universal suffrage. Its reputation has, however, taken a hit from a series of corruption scandals.
“[Mongolia is] a bit wary of becoming a full member due to fear of how it might be read elsewhere, and what it would mean for its constantly complicated relations with Moscow and Beijing,” Pantucci added.
The SCO is often described as the world’s largest regional organisation, given that it covers about half of the planet’s population and three-fifths of the Eurasian continent.

Countries which have officially applied to join include Iran, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Qatar. Egypt, Syria and Bangladesh have submitted applications for observer status, while Israel, the Maldives, Ukraine and Iraq have applied for dialogue-partner status.
Given the SCO’s growing influence, Pantucci said it made sense for Mongolia to explore full membership to ensure its relations with China and Russia stayed on an even keel.
Wang, of the Charhar Institute, agreed that Mongolian neutrality wasn’t set in stone. He said its stance was largely a response to Russia’s 2014 annexation of the Crimea, but this issue had become less prominent in recent years and some Mongolians were starting to wonder whether its neutral stance had been holding the country back in its foreign policy.
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“Since Battulga assumed power, the issue of Mongolian neutrality has become diluted, as significant time and efforts are needed to address the country’s continued economic downturn,” Wang said.
Stefanovich noted that Mongolia had recently stepped up efforts to fight terrorism, a key focus of the SCO. In December, Ulan Bator signed a counterterrorism cooperation agreement with Moscow.
“So it might be a natural development to increase the level of involvement from being an observer to becoming a [full member],” Stefanovich said.

WHAT’S CHINA’S AGENDA?
Pantucci said that like Russia, China was keen to have Mongolia join the SCO as a full member because of its “West-leaning inclinations” and concerns it could be turned into a base for the West to “meddle or advance democracy in their backyard”.
Beijing and Moscow also saw the SCO as a way of “pushing back on colour revolutions and advancing their own perspectives on what constitutes terrorism”, Pantucci said.
Since Battulga became president, China has called on Mongolia to elevate its ties with the SCO, with President Xi Jinping calling on his counterpart to “participate in SCO cooperation in a more in-depth way”.
Wang said there had been renewed interest in Mongolia’s involvement in the SCO since the three neighbours agreed to jointly develop the China-Mongolia-Russia-Economic Corridor (CMREC), a project involving infrastructure construction, resource and energy development, and projects ranging from finance to environmental protection.
Mongolia sees the CMREC as a way of overcoming its landlocked constraints.
The former Chinese ambassador to Uzbekistan, Yu Hongjun, wrote recently that the CMREC required the three countries to be more extensively connected in their development strategies.

AMERICA ‘A BIT CONCERNED’
Washington would “undoubtedly be a bit concerned” about democratic norms in Mongolia if Ulan Bator were to join the SCO as a full member, Pantucci said.
Washington had traditionally not paid much attention to the SCO, seeing it as a weak organisation that member countries could choose to ignore, he said.
However, Pantucci said the US had misread the SCO, which had helped China to build relationships in the region.
“The SCO has created a forum for greater Chinese influence and consensus building across its Eurasian backyard. Seen within the current US-China clash, it would likely be widely read as a net loss for Washington if Mongolia were to join the SCO,” Pantucci said.
Campi, at Johns Hopkins, said Washington understood that Mongolia must have strong relations with its neighbours, which was why the US had not objected to the CMREC, which was a “logical and inevitable result of geographical reality”.
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“However, the US wants Mongolia to retain and strengthen its political and economic links to other nations, especially democratic nations in the Indo-Pacific region and throughout the world,” Campi said.
Some analysts said the appeal of the SCO had grown in view of China’s Belt and Road Initiative to develop infrastructure across Eurasia as it offered further potential for regional economic and commercial integration. Some even suggested that if more Middle Eastern countries were to join, the body could one day compete for influence with the US foreign policy agenda.
Still, much like Mongolia itself, not all the experts were convinced of the SCO’s appeal. Campi said the SCO’s influence was undermined by its failure to provide any political or military umbrella to protect its members as a counterweight to Nato. “The SCO seems to be slowly petrifying because its purpose is muddled,” Campi said. ■

Another Victory for Naidan Tüvshinbayar www.ijf.org

August 14 will remain a doubly symbolic date for Naidan Tüvshinbayar. In 2008, the Mongolian judoka became the first Olympic Champion in the sporting history of his country. Twelve years later exactly, on 14th August 2020, he was brilliantly elected President of the Mongolian National Olympic Committee, by an overwhelming majority.

Births decrease by 1.4 percent from previous year www.montsame.mn

China remains Mongolia's top export destination, import supplier www.xinhuanet.com

China remains Mongolia's top export destination in the first seven months of 2020, accounting for 68 percent of Mongolia's total exports, the Mongolian National Statistics Office (NSO) said Thursday.

UNDP Mongolia facilitates multi stakeholder workshop to address the key challenges facing Mongolia’s cashmere industry post COVID-19 www.mn.undp.org

ULAANBAATAR, Mongolia – On 13 August, UNDP Mongolia facilitated the “Cashmere Sector Recovery from Covid-19 - Building Forward Better” workshop with key stakeholders of Mongolia’s cashmere industry including public, private and civil society representatives under the guidance of international Systems thinking experts.

Key China-Mongolia railway port sees peak cargo clearances www.innermongolia.chinadaily.com.cn

Ereenhot Port in North China’s Inner Mongolia autonomous region – on the border with Mongolia – is experiencing boom times in rail freight and recently hit peak cargo clearance levels, according to port officials.

Exports decreased by 17.1 percent compared to previous year www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar/MONTSAME/. In the first seven months of 2020, Mongolia traded with 135 countries from all over the world, and the total trade turnover reached USD 6.7 billion, of which USD 3.8 billion were exports and USD 2.9 billion were imports. Total foreign trade turnover decreased by USD 1.3 billion (16.7%), of which exports decreased by USD 782.8 million (17.1%) and imports decreased by USD 565.2 million (16.1%) compared to the same period of the previous year.

Chinese rail speeding towards exciting future by doubling network length within 15 years & introducing 600kph maglev trains www.rt.com

China has unveiled ambitious plans to boost its railway industry over the next 15 years. Part of the vision are maglev lines that can ferry commuters at 600kph, with a prototype train recently approved for trials.
Beijing also plans to build some 200,000km of new railways over 15 years, a blueprint unveiled by China State Railway Group on Wednesday said. As of July, the national network had a total length of 141,400km.

Russia offers to help US with Covid-19 vaccine; US says no www.cnn.com

Moscow (CNN)Russian officials in Moscow tell CNN they have offered "unprecedented cooperation" with Operation Warp Speed (OWS), the US multi-agency body set up to accelerate access to effective Covid-19 vaccines and treatments.

But the officials told CNN that the "US is not currently open" to the Russian medical advances.
"There is a general sense of mistrust of Russia on the American side and we believe that technologies -- including vaccine, testing and treatments -- are not being adopted in US because of that mistrust," one senior Russian official told CNN.
White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Thursday that President Donald Trump has been briefed on the new Russian vaccine. She said that American vaccines go through "rigorous" Phase 3 testing and high standards.
Other US officials told CNN the Russian vaccine is considered so half-baked in the United States that it hadn't even piqued US interest in a serious way before the rollout. "There's no way in hell the US tries this (Russian vaccine) on monkeys, let alone people," one US government public health official said.
Russia announced on Tuesday that it had developed a vaccine against the coronavirus and President Vladimir Putin said his own daughter had received it. But tests are yet to be completed and some experts are skeptical about the claims.
The race to find an effective vaccine -- more than 20 are in trials around the world -- has global implications, not just for the health of billions of people, but potential billions in revenue for the successful developer and manufacturer.
Russia says US firms interested
Russian officials tell CNN that Russia is open to sharing information about the vaccine and that it would allow US pharmaceutical companies to produce the Russian vaccine on American soil.
CNN previously reported that Russia says some US pharmaceutical companies are interested in learning about the Russian vaccine, although the names of the firms have not been disclosed.

Following the rebuff from the United States, the Russian sources say Washington should "seriously consider adopting" the vaccine, telling CNN the newly approved Russian coronavirus vaccine, Sputnik V, could save American lives.
"If our vaccine proves to be one of the most effective, questions will be asked why the US did not explore this option any deeper, why politics got in way of access to a vaccine," one senior Russian official told CNN.
CNN has contacted the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) and Operation Warp Speed for comment.
Russia's sovereign wealth fund said in a news conference on Tuesday that at least 20 countries in Latin America, the Middle East and Asia have expressed interest in the vaccine. Notably, Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte says he has so much confidence in the vaccine that he'll take it when it arrives in his country, and Mexico's foreign minister said on Thursday morning that Mexico is in "in talks" with Russia about the vaccine.
No testing data released
Developed by the Moscow-based Gamaleya Institute, the vaccine was approved by the Russian government before beginning crucial Phase 3 trials in which it would be administered to thousands of people. Kirill Dmitriev, head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) announced earlier this week that Phase 3 trials of the vaccine would start this past Wednesday in Russia.
Russia hasn't released any scientific data on its testing and CNN is unable to verify the vaccine's claimed safety or effectiveness.
A senior US official and an adviser to the US government tell CNN that there are no procured samples of the newly announced Russia Covid-19 vaccine in the possession of the US government.
"They have enough disease now in Russia that they could conduct clinical trials but they don't appear to have done that at a large enough scale," said the government adviser who spoke to CNN on the condition no name be used. "There have been no trials of this vaccine. They've done too little work on humans to decide if it works on a larger scale. We're talking totally inadequate safety data."

Russia enacted a law in April which eliminated the requirement for crucial Phase 3 trials to be conducted before approval. This has allowed researchers to fast-track the vaccine development process.
"There's all of this discussion about Emergency Use Authorization -- in the case of a pandemic, there are a number of points where you could make a judgment to say the potential benefits of this vaccine outweigh the risks so we give it Emergency Use Authorization to get it approved quickly. That's basically what Russia just did. It's the October surprise we all fear," the senior US official said.
"But in the end, the risks are far too great. The blowback in this country would be horrific," the senior US official added.
Russia's coronavirus vaccine will be gradually rolled out to high-risk people before a mass vaccination of Russians begins in October.

A former senior US administration official called the Russian vaccine "a joke," adding that Russia didn't complete the three phases of testing, and so no one -- not the World Health Organization or the US -- is taking it too seriously. The source continued to say that China is "much closer to winning the vaccine race."
US government officials and government advisers told CNN they believe China is much more serious and responsible with its own testing. "China is very much wanting to join the world of normal response and regulation and they are trying to do that," one official said.
The American sources noted that they believe the only reason Russia is doing this is for leverage -- mostly, in the hope of exchanging it for strategic assets. Putin, like Trump, is under significant pressure to demonstrate formidable efforts to defeat the virus.
"No one will dare question him (Putin), and Russian standards for efficacy don't match those of the US," one former official said.
This story was reported and written by Matthew Chance and Zahra Ullah in Moscow, and Vivian Salama in Washington DC.