Page | 65Credible reports of threats and even violence against Chinese residents living in
Mongolia have been widely reported in the media.^350 To date, the Chinese government
has not publicly protested the treatment of Chinese citizens in Mongolia.^351
Military
Mongolia’s limited armed forces consist of an army and air
force, with a total of 5,800 personnel. Given Mongolia’s position
between two of the world’s biggest nations with correspondingly
large military forces, Mongolia’s military has no real capacity to
resist a sustained invasion. Thus, Mongolia’s defensive strategy
is based on the assumption that any external threat will be
countered by one of its powerful neighbors.^352 Much of
Mongolia’s military equipment is from the Soviet era and is
badly outdated. Given its strictly defensive posture, the
Mongolian Army mostly needs new “early warning systems, air
and satellite surveillance, and border-protection assets.”^353 The
Mongolian Air Force is very small and has no combat capability.
The few aircraft in service primarily fulfill transport duties.^354
Since 2002, Mongolian military observers and troops have been
deployed in some United Nations peacekeeping missions (most notably, in Sierra Leone
and Chad/Central African Republic) and in the U.S.-led military operations in Iraq and
Afghanistan.
355,356, 357
(^349) Kirril Shields, “The Naivety of Mongolia’s Nazis,” 4 December 2008,
In recent years, the Mongolian Army has taken an increasing role
http://ubpost.mongolnews.mn/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2446&Itemid=42
(^350) Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, U.S. Department of State, “2009 Human Rights
Report: Mongolia: Section 6,” 11 March 2010, http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2009/eap/136001.htm
(^351) Alicia Campi, “Mongolia’s Uneasy Relationship With China,” 26 May 2010,
http://www.asiafinest.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=233772
(^352) Jane’s Information Group, “Army, Mongolia,” 9 October 2009.
(^353) Jane’s Information Group, “Army, Mongolia,” 9 October 2009.
(^354) Jane’s Information Group, “Air Force (Mongolia), Air Force,” 2009,
http://articles.janes.com/extracts/extract/cnasu/mongs120.html
(^355) Agence France-Presse, “Mongolia to Send Troops to Afghanistan,” 22 July 2009,
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5ijohhR3_8jwVXdLiihL7miTKeMWw
(^356) Jane’s Information Group, “Army, Mongolia,” 9 October 2009.
(^357) United Nations Mission in Liberia, “UNMIL Force Commander Assures Sierra Leoneans and Liberians
of Continued Peace and Stability,” 14 May 2008,
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:tHKCuC4BcHMJ:unmil.org/1article.asp%3Fid%3
D2762%26zdoc%3D1+UNMIL+MOngolia&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&source=www.google.com