French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday made a brief, but symbolic visit to Mongolia, the first by a French president to the nation nestled between China and Russia that is of growing strategic interest in the West.
The French head of state was greeted by a traditional Mongolian guard of honor after landing in the capital, Ulan Bator, following the G7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan.
Macron then attended a reception at Sukhbaatar Square, which contains a large statue of Mongolian revolutionary hero Damdin Sukhbaatar and a monument to Genghis Khan.
Photo: AFP
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy was the star guest at the G7, where he addressed Western allies and leaders of non-aligned nations such as Brazil and India.
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February last year, France has stepped up diplomacy with nations that have not explicitly condemned the war — of which Mongolia is one.
In Ulan Bator, Macron attended a state dinner at the museum of Genghis Khan, named for the 13th-century Mongol conqueror.
The institution is to lend part of its collection to the Nantes History Museum in western France for an exhibition scheduled for October.
“The fact that Mongolia will be on the route back allows us to make this historic first [visit] and gives it a special meaning,” an Elysee Palace source said.
Mongolia was looking to “diversify its partnerships in order to be more robust and able to deal with its large Russian and Chinese neighbors,” the source added.
Paris is seeking to “loosen the constraint exerted on Russia’s neighbors” and open up their choice of options, the source said.
Mongolia can also be part of European efforts to diversify supplies “to guarantee our energy sovereignty,” the source added.
The vast north Asian nation has been the subject of growing interest from the US as part of a strategy to thwart the rise of China. Eighty-six percent of Mongolia’s exports go to China, half of which is coal.
Mongolia has struggled with political instability since its first democratic constitution in 1992.
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