Mongolia is becoming a strategic point on the map of Westerners, says Antoine Maire. France wants to "loosen the constraint exerted on Russia's neighbours," he says.
Mongolia depends almost entirely on China and Russia, which were in turn dominant powers. The real economic lung of the country is still far from benefiting all three million inhabitants, says Maire, who is based in Nantes, France, and works for the Foundation for Strategic Research, a think tank based in Paris.