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Aug 8, 2019
World News : With an eye on Russia, China and a horse, Pentagon chief visits...
ULAANBAATAR
(Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper met senior Mongolian
leaders on Thursday in a rare visit to the strategically important
nation as the Pentagon seeks to implement its strategy of focusing on
countering China and Russia.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper is gifted a horse in Ulan Bator, Mongolia August 8, 2019. REUTERS/Idrees Ali
On a map, Mongolia, locked between Russia and China, best represents the Pentagon’s priorities over the coming decades.
“It
is my deep privilege to be here, to be with you and to have the
opportunity to look at different ways we can further strengthen the ties
between our two countries,” Esper said before the start of his meeting
with his Mongolian counterpart.
Esper was welcomed to the capital
Ulaanbaatar on Wednesday according to custom, trying dried milk curd
upon stepping off the plane at Chinggis Khaan International Airport,
named after the country’s warrior-emperor.
The ceremonial
highlight of the visit was when Esper was given a seven-year old caramel
colored horse as a present. Esper named the horse Marshall after former
U.S. Defense Secretary General George Marshall.
“He’s happy, he likes his name,” Esper, standing next to the horse, said.
The
horse will stay behind to be cared for in Mongolia, though Esper was
given a framed photo of the it. Esper, in return, gave the caretaker a
blanket for the horse which is used by the U.S. Army Old Guard.
Esper’s
visit to Mongolia, on his first international trip since being
confirmed as defense secretary, highlights the importance the country is
seen as playing in the region.
This is the first visit to the
country by a defense secretary since 2014, when Chuck Hagel spent about
four hours there. Esper spent a night in Ulaanbaatar.
Mongolia is
eager for investment from the United States and other countries it
considers “third neighbors” to help it reduce its economic dependence on
China, through which most of its exports of cashmere and other goods
move.
Late last month, Mongolian President Battulga Khaltmaa visited Washington to meet with President Donald Trump.
Battulga,
a businessman often described as “Mongolia’s Trump”, was elected in
2017 on a populist and sometimes anti-Chinese platform, with the country
increasingly wary of Beijing’s growing regional dominance.
“They
have been a good ally that punches above its weight, and I think
Secretary Esper wants to acknowledge (that) and see if there are ways to
grow the partnership further,” said a senior U.S. defense official,
speaking on the condition of anonymity.
The official said that
while this trip was not about promoting any specific initiative, the
United States was keen to look at expanding ties, potentially in areas
such as military training, which could take advantage of Mongolia’s cold
weather.
REGIONAL IMPORTANCE
Esper’s trip to Mongolia
comes at a particularly tense time in relations between the United
States and China, which are locked into an escalating trade war.
Last
year, the U.S. military put countering China and Russia at the center
of a new national defense strategy, shifting priorities after more than a
decade and a half of focusing on the fight against Islamist militants.
Mongolia
has been a consistent U.S. military partner, providing troops to
U.S.-led missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, where it still has about 200
troops.
It also has a relationship with North Korea that
Washington could leverage as Trump seeks to revive stalled
denuclearization talks with Pyongyang. The country is accessible by rail
from North Korea.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper is gifted a horse in Ulan Bator, Mongolia August 8, 2019. REUTERS/Idrees Ali
“Mongolia
is not going to side entirely with anybody against anybody,” said
Abraham Denmark, a former U.S. deputy assistant secretary of defense for
East Asia.
“But they are looking to bolster their relationships
with the United States because possibly they want American economic
engagement and political engagement, but also because it gives them a
bit more breathing space in their relations with Beijing and Moscow,”
Denmark said.
Reporting by Idrees Ali; editing by Jonathan Oatis
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