Crossfire War – Moscow – Ulaanbaatar Watch – East Asia Theatre: Moscow – Berlin – Washington – Taipei – Tokyo – Shanghai – Hong Kong – Ulaanbaatar/Baotou – Beijing; Russia – Mongolia Combine Uranium Industry – Prospects of Mongolia’s Re-Emergence Replacing China
Night Watch: ULAANBAATAR – Late last year China was showing Mongolia’s President Nambaryn Enkhbayar some of China’s provinces, the one bordering Mongolia, Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, Ningxia and Shaanxi. It was an acknowledgement of Mongolia’s re-emergence since the country’s independence 20 years ago as Moscow withdrew its administration in order for Russia to concentrate its foreign policy toward the Persian Gulf. I suspect it was the Chinese business network based in Shanghai that arranged Enkhbayar’s tour. Shanghai knows the Central Government in Beijing never recovered from the slaughter of the China’s Pro-Democracy movement in June 1989 and therefore its days of effective rule had ended. [RIA]
Several years ago a Chinese official admitted there was more corruption in China now than before 1949. The corruption trail in the linked article, involving a senior Communist Party official in Hunan province, a bribery case that goes back as far as 1999, is just the tip of the iceberg. A few years ago China President Hu Jintao pulled his friend out of Henan province because it had so many problems he didn’t want his friend blamed. Shanghai and other business centers in China know the country is fragmenting due to another cycle of national corruption, which is almost as old as China’s history and one of its main causes of civil wars. They also know Mongolia has been a unifying presence in the past and can be again. [XINHUA]
One of the reasons that will enable Mongolia to do so again is their being a democracy, something a lot of the Chinese have died for the chance of experiencing. The fear of democracy is so prevalent in Beijing it imposes a news blackout on any Mongolian election. But sometime this year demonstrations, which for years have been taking place all over China, could eventually spread into Inner Mongolia and Ulaanbaatar will decide to support them. I cannot imagine many military units in China will be willing to risk their lives for an enormously corrupt government. With that in mind realistic business interests in China are helping Mongolia’s leaders become familiar with areas they will soon be ruling.
Russia is also aware of China’s ongoing collaspe so in order to be on good terms with a resurgent international presence Moscow has just announced a merging of Russia’s nuclear production with Mongolia’s state nuclear industrial services. Sergei Novikov, press secretary of Russia’s Nuclear Power Agency stated, “Rosatom and Mongolia’s industry and trade ministry signed a protocol on development of cooperation in the field of geological prospecting and processing of uranium ores.”
The head of Rosatom, Sergei Kiriyenko, met Friday Mongolian President Enkbayar and talked with Prime Minister Miegombyn Enkhbold on the implementing of international projects. Mongolia possesses reserves of 37,000 metric tons of uranium-molybdenum ores. Molybdenum is a silver-white chemical element used in alloys for electrical resistance furnaces, crucial in nuclear processing.
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