Foreign powers competition in the mining sector of Mongolia

¹ Buryat State University 670000, Smolina Str. 24a, Ulan-Ude, Russia
² Institute for Mongolian, Buddhist and Tibetan Studies RAS (SB), 670047, Sakhiyanova Str. 6, Ulan-Ude, Russia

^a Corresponding author: vladimir_198025@mail.ru

Abstract

The paper is about the issue of Mongolia cooperation with foreign companies playing an important role in its foreign policy strategy and national security. At the beginning of the 1990s, having proclaimed a “multipillar” policy strategy in relations with the world, Ulaanbaatar tends to follow it in the economic cooperation not willing to give any preference to any country. It creates a situation of competition between foreign companies backed by their states, especially such great powers as Russia, China, the USA. The most tense moment in the struggle for the influence in Mongolia is the rivalry betw een the different discourses, pretending the exclusive right to nominate the most effective model of cooperation between Mongolia and foreign states in the ore-mining industry. Among the most well-defined discourses, there are three of them. China prefers to define the discourse of “economic feasibility”. Western states, as a rule, tend to rely on the discourse of “values community”, which includes such concepts as “democracy”, “environmentally friendly”, “transparency” Russia often uses the “geopolitical” discourse. In spite of the attractiveness and relative effectiveness of the discourse selected by Russia, there are certain limits to its use.