ABSTRACT
In September 1990, the first coalition government in Mongolia’s history was formed during an historic session of the Great People’s Hural (GPH). The newly elected Chairman of the Presidium of the GPH, Punsalmagiin Ochirbat, represented the ruling Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party, whose General Secretary, Gombojavyn Ochirbat, was excluded from the presidency by a new residence rule. The Mongols, a proud people with a very strong national tradition, have long resented their unequal relationship with Moscow. To the south, in China’s Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region, pan-Mongol nationalism and loyalty to the Buddhist faith have been strengthened by developments in Mongolia. In December 1989, at the very end of the Year of Revolutions in Central- Eastern Europe, a Mongolian Democratic Union was founded in Ulan Bator. Sandwiched between the Soviet Union and China in Inner or High Asia, Mongolia occupies a pivotal geopolitical position that figures prominently in the national security interests of both its neighbours.
