Skip to main content

Featured

The chaos theory of Mongolia

I returned to Mongolia 15 years ago after an absence of 13 years, save for the occasional 2-week leave from work, and that time I spent a semester and a half at a local university drinking endless cups of brown, watery 150 Tugrik instant MaCcoffee at the cafĂ© strangely, or perhaps egotistically, named "In my memory", writing the first and so far the only book that got us into trouble with the local intelligence who apparently had little else to do than to pore through the ramblings of teenagers to catch the tell-tale signs of drug dealery. But I digress. When you visit a country for a short period, be it home or not, you hardly have time to immerse yourself in the spirit of the country and the city and feel the nitty gritty and dirty shiny of it all. So after 13 years, it took me a while to readjust and finally understand what the hometown of my childhood had become.  The most striking, ubiquitous, and inescapable feature was and still, unfortunately, is the traffic. In 2008,

Mongolian Foreign Minister kisses up to China over Lhasa riots

I used to have a lot of respect for S. Oyun, who I just found is the Foreign Minister now. As an MP, she was an active and outspoken politician. Recently on a trip to China to meet the State Counciller of China, she is quoted as saying:

Mongolia always believes that Tibet and Taiwan were inalienable parts of Chinese territory, Oyun said, adding his government understood and supported the Chinese government's measures in dealing with the Lhasa riots.

Full article available here.

In Mongolia, there is mostly indifference towards the Taiwan-China affair. The short is, most people will say "They're both Chinese, so what's the difference". Besides, the Kuomintan invaded Mongolia shortly before they fell and fled to the island.

As far as Tibet goes, I believe Mongolians should feel some affinity to them, having had 8 Tibetan priest-kings in the past (Mongolian had 9 lama-kings in succession, one of whom was a Mongolian), having adopted Tibetan Buddhism as the official religion, and having adopted many Tibetan names. Mongolia's political stance on the international forum has been one of a pushover, sending troops to Iraq, Afghanistan to get on the good side of Americans and now kissing up to the Chinese. "..Mongolia always believes"?? Shame.

Popular Posts