Cultivating closer ties in Mongolia, US Secretary of State John Kerry yesterday tried his hand at archery, sampled curdled cheese and watched ancient wrestling, all while hailing Mongolia as a modern “oasis of democracy” in its neighborhood.
For Mongolia, sandwiched between undemocratic China and increasingly authoritarian Russia, the desire for deeper relations was mutual.
Kerry’s stop in the nation of 3 million people included heaps of praise for its unlikely democratic story. Parliamentary elections next month will be the seventh since 1990, when this vast territory of grassy steppe and nomadic herders shook off its status as a Soviet satellite state.
Photo: AFP
However, the top US diplomat also pushed for greater transparency in Mongolia, a sensitive issue given the foreign scramble for its rich resource deposits and questions about how revenue is being shared among the country’s many impoverished citizens.
In March, hundreds of protesters gathered for a rare demonstration in the capital’s central square, demanding parliament be dissolved and a new government formed.
Nevertheless, mining giant Rio Tinto last month announced the next stage of a US multibillion-dollar gold and copper mine that had become a symbol of the tension.
The government is expected to finalize a transparency agreement with the US in coming weeks, Kerry said.
Doing so, he said, would help attract foreign investment and boost an economy expected to shrink slightly this year amid sinking commodity prices and weakened demand from China.
“Mongolia has made remarkable progress for a young democracy,” Kerry told reporters.
He credited it for contributing troops to Afghanistan and Iraq, helping even younger democracies in Kyrgyzstan and Myanmar in their transitions, and being a “responsible global citizen.”
Kerry yesterday traveled to Beijing for annual US-China strategic and economic talks. And his comments about China in a question-and-answer session, just moments after praising Mongolia, stood in stark contrast.
With reports suggesting China might establish an air defense zone in the contested South China Sea, Kerry warned against what he said would be a “provocative and destabilizing act.”
Such action would raise tension between China and its Asian neighbors, he said, and undermine China’s commitment to diplomatically resolve disputes over islands and maritime claims. The matter is likely to be a major focus of discussions in the next days.
Yesterday also included fun and games. After lunching with Mongolian President Elbegdorj Tsakhia, Kerry attended a naadam, a competition with archery, horseback riding and wrestling.
The scene in the verdant fields outside Ulan Bator, accompanied by an orchestra playing triumphal music, illustrated Mongolia’s rich cultural heritage. The games come from the nomadic tribes which spread from this territory across Asia, the Middle East and Europe, at one point amassing the largest land empire in human history.
First came the wrestling: Men in slips, chest-less tunics and leather boots hurling each other to the ground, while spectators sipped fermented mare’s milk.
Then, Kerry fired two arrows at a target 75m away. He missed, but acquitted himself decently.
Moments later, horseback riders sprinted to the nearby finish line of their race. The festivals usually last several hours; yesterday’s version was condensed to 45 minutes.
Former US secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton visited Mongolia in 2012. US Vice President Joe Biden traveled here in 2011 and US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel stopped by three years later, all to support what the US calls Asia’s “plucky democracy.”
Wanting to safeguard its sovereignty, Mongolia has been reaching out to Washington as part of its “third neighbor” policy.
The approach is somewhat similar to several Southeast Asian nations developing friendlier relations with Washington because they feel threatened by China’s rising military and economic might.
Kerry, who announced a US$2.5 million democracy program targeting Mongolia’s young leaders, said the two countries should not be defined by their geographical separation.
“When it comes to our hopes, our aspirations for our people, we really couldn’t be closer,” Kerry said.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
RIVER TRAGEDY: Local fishers and residents helped rescue people after the vessel capsized, while motorbike taxis evacuated some of the injured At least 58 people going to a funeral died after their overloaded river boat capsized in the Central African Republic’s (CAR) capital, Bangui, the head of civil protection said on Saturday. “We were able to extract 58 lifeless bodies,” Thomas Djimasse told Radio Guira. “We don’t know the total number of people who are underwater. According to witnesses and videos on social media, the wooden boat was carrying more than 300 people — some standing and others perched on wooden structures — when it sank on the Mpoko River on Friday. The vessel was heading to the funeral of a village chief in