Pentagon chief in Mongolia to strengthen military bonds

With one hand resting on the mane of a sturdy Mongolian horse, US Defence Secretary Mark Esper invoked the name of one of America's great soldiers as he sought to strengthen the military bonds between the U.S. and this landlocked democracy sandwiched between Russia and China.

"I'd like to name this fine-looking horse Marshall, after Gen. George Marshall," Esper said Thursday as he was presented with a 7-year-old buckskin during a time-honored traditional ceremony at Mongolia's Ministry of Defense.

Esper's stop in Ulaanbaatar the third U.S. engagement with Mongolia in recent weeks underscored its key role in America's new defense strategy that lists China and Russia as priority competitors.

With just over 3 million people spread over an area twice the size of Texas, Mongolia has worked to maintain its independence from Beijing and Moscow by increasing its ties to other world powers, including the US. It describes the US as a "third neighbor." Esper has made it clear throughout his weeklong travel across the Asia Pacific that countering China's aggressive and destabilizing activities in the region is a top administration priority.

The activities, he said, include Beijing's militarization of manmade islands in the South China Sea, efforts to use predatory economics and debt for sovereignty deals, and a campaign to promote the state-sponsored theft of other nations' intellectual property.

"We've got to be conscious of the toeholds that they're trying to get into many of these countries," Esper told reporters traveling with him to Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea and Mongolia this week.

He said the US is working to build relationships with key countries in the Indo-Pacific that share values and respect for each other's sovereignty, "whether it's Mongolia this trip, Vietnam, a future trip, Indonesia, other countries who I think are key."
The State Department's 2019 budget for foreign operations was explicit in outlining Mongolia's importance, stating that the primary goals of U.S. assistance are to "ensure the United States remains a preferred partner over geographical neighbors Russia and China."