India To Help Mongolia Modernise Weaponry

[SR-91]

New Delhi gave the assurance in this regard to the landlocked north-east Asian country – bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, east and west – during a meeting between Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh and members of a visiting Mongolian delegation. Brigadier General of the General Authority on Border Protection (GABP) Sharkhuugiin Lkhachinjav is leading the delegation. The Indian minister assured the Mongolian delegation that the South Asian nation would also help Ulan Bator in increasing its capabilities in areas of special operations, cyber security and weapons and warfare tactics. At the same time, Singh requested the visiting delegation to increase co-operation with India for “effective prevention and detection” of crime. He stressed that the growth of global terrorism and trans-national crimes – such as drug trafficking, smuggling of illegal arms and ammunition – made co-operation between countries crucial for maintaining peace and stability. According to the minister, it becomes difficult for any country to tackle the non-state actors properly without proper co-operation and co-ordination. Singh further mentioned that co-operation between India and Mongolia has a special significance as the two countries share borders with China. India and Mongolia also have deployed respective border security forces to guard the unfenced frontiers. According to the Indian minister, it will be easier for the GABP to co-operate with their Indian counterparts – Border Security Force (BSF) – in various areas, including special operations, cyber security, computers and IT, weapons and tactics, bomb disposal and disaster, because the two forces work in similar terrains and face similar challenges. Singh further mentioned that India has always shared close ‘historical, cultural and spiritual’ ties with Mongolia and the bilateral diplomatic relations are nearly 60-year-old. Indian political and defence experts are of the opinion that New Delhi can counter Beijing’s growing influence in the region by maintaining ‘close’ ties with Ulan Bator. In a report, the Centre for Asian Strategic Studies – India (CASS – India) has mentioned that the renewal of defence co-operation agreement with Mongolia will give a huge boost to India’s disguised policy of engaging with the neighbours of China in a more discreet manner. According to CASS – India, efforts to deepen its defence and strategic relations with Mongolia is considered significant especially since Mongolia was considered a close ally of Russia during the Cold War days and Mongolia-China relations were not considered to be very cordial. It is not that by simply signing the defence co-operation agreement India will be able to militarily threaten China, but it will simply attain a foothold in the northern neighbour of China. India-Mongolia defence relations cannot also be described on similar footing to China-Myanmar or China-Pakistan defence relations, which has been a cause of much concern in Indian strategic circles.

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