China is prepared to increase cooperation with Mongolia and Russia.

Reuters, Beijing, October 16 At a meeting with his neighbors on the sidelines of a Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit on Wednesday, China's Premier Li Qiang suggested further three-way relations with Russia and Mongolia, according to official media.In recent years, the three have become closer. This year, China and Mongolia both threw open their arms to Russian President Vladimir Putin, just as Moscow did for China's Xi Jinping in 2023, and Beijing did the same for Mongolia's president.According to the official news agency Xinhua, Li, China's second-ranking official, stated that "China is ready to work with Russia and Mongolia to further enhance mutual trust, strengthen coordination and promote deeper... trilateral co-operation."He was addressing L. Oyun-Erdene, the prime minister of Mongolia, and Mikhail Mishustin, the prime minister of Russia.Since 2004, Mongolia has opted to remain an observer state and is not a member of the SCO, a China-led Eurasian security bloc. Nevertheless, China is still gently pressuring its smaller neighbor to join the ten-nation bloc.

Officials from the United States are also pursuing the resource-rich, landlocked nation, which has pledged to invest in its heavy industry and mining. However, Washington criticized Ulaanbaatar for hosting Putin in September despite the International Criminal Court in The Hague issuing an arrest order for him. If the Russian president enters any of the 124 nations that make up the court's membership, including Mongolia, he is often required by such a warrant to be arrested and taken to the Hague for trial.A large pipeline that Russia intends to construct to transport 50 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually from the Yamal area to China passes through Mongolia. Li told Mishustin in a separate meeting that China was open to deepening its energy and commerce relations with Russia, according to Chinese state media.