MongoliaThreat Perception
In the early 1980s, despite improved Sino-Soviet relations,
Mongolia maintained its traditional distrust of Beijing and was
unwilling to reduce its own armed forces or the level of Soviet
forces stationed in Mongolia. By 1985 Soviet troops in Mongolia
still numbered 75,000; they included two tank and three motorized
infantry divisions. China insisted that Soviet forces in Mongolia
be withdrawn as a condition for improved Sino-Soviet relations.
Soviet communist party general secretary Mikhail Gorbachev
responded to that demand in a July 1986 Vladivostok speech in
which he offered to withdraw Soviet troops from Mongolia. Two
weeks later, the Mongolian government gave its support for "the
withdrawal of a considerable part of the Soviet troops from
Mongolia...to promote the establishment of the overall Asian and
Pacific security and serve the cause of strengthening trust and
good neighborliness in Asia." Between April and June 1987, the
Soviet Union announced the withdrawal of one full-strength
motorized rifle division and several separate units, which
reduced Soviet forces in Mongolia to approximately 55,000
(see Foreign Relations
, ch. 4).
Mongolia's relations with China also improved during this
period; the exchange of government, trade, and friendship
delegations culminated in the November 1988 signing of a
Mongolian-Chinese border treaty. In December 1988, Mongolia's
first deputy minister of foreign affairs, Daramyn Yondon,
commenting on a Soviet offer to withdraw the majority of its
troops stationed in Mongolia within two years, stated that "if
relations with China continue to improve, all Soviet troops will
be withdrawn." In February 1989, official Mongolian news sources
quoted Mongolian military leaders as calling for a reduction in
the size of the Mongolian armed forces. Mongolia's concern over
the Chinese threat, although by no means eliminated, was at its
lowest level in nearly thirty years.
Mongolian People's Army honor guard
Courtesy Steve Mann
Mongolian People's Air Force pilots
Courtesy Mongolian State Publishing Office
Data as of June 1989
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