Mongolia is an interesting case. Its independence is guaranteed by Russia, otherwise China would likely have swallowed it in the 1950s or so, much like Tibet.

Mongolia is an interesting case. Its independence is guaranteed by Russia, otherwise China would likely have swallowed it in the 1950s or so, much like Tibet. But Mongolia, sitting between two authoritarian powers, is nowadays a stable democracy with regular transfers of power between opposing parties. I wonder if this can last. Their best chance is actually the fact that they aren't very prominent on the international stage and probably not worth a conquest or hostile takeover right now.