Ulan Bator, Mongolia – The United States is more than an ocean away, but to many Mongolians, it’s a cherished neighbor and an ally for their struggling democracy.
President Bush’s planned stop today in subfreezing wintertime Ulan Bator – the first by a serving U.S. president – is widely viewed in the country as vital evidence of America’s diplomatic and economic backing for the former Soviet satellite.
Nearly 15 years after discarding communism, Mongolia – a vast, sparsely populated stretch of deserts, steppe and mountains sandwiched between Russia and China – is counting on that support to help counter the influence of its huge neighbors to the north and south.
“We need another big neighbor,” said retired teacher Donjoo, who like most Mongolians uses only one name.
“Perhaps Mr. Bush’s visit will bring in more aid,” said his wife, Dungaa, who stood smiling and nodding beside him in a pink silk traditional robe and fuzzy white hat atop a monument to Soviet soldiers overlooking the Mongolian capital.
Mongolia’s pursuit of democracy and its support for the U.S. war against terrorism – it deployed 120 troops to Iraq and about 50 to Afghanistan – have clinched its status as an ally.
“My visit should send a signal to the people of Mongolia that you’ve got a friend in the United States and a friend in George W. Bush,” the president said in a recent interview with Mongolian television station Eagle TV.
But while this Buddhist nation of 2.8 million people holds democratic elections and allows Western-style freedoms, many worry that it risks being swallowed up economically by China.
It’s a terrifying prospect for the proud descendants of Genghis Khan, whose empire once reached as far south as Southeast Asia and west to Hungary.
Despite economic growth that exceeded 10 percent last year, nearly 40 percent of Mongolians live in poverty. Inflation is a volatile 11 percent. Foreign investment remains meager, and the country’s schools and health system have crumbled.
A program to privatize industries, launched in the early 1990s, has put much of the wealth in the hands of a politically powerful elite, bound by vested interests and blood ties that so far have transcended efforts to fight corruption, critics say.
In the 1990s, poverty soared as Soviet support evaporated and workers lost their jobs in defunct or privatizing state companies.
While the newly rich in Ulan Bator drive Land Cruisers and live in modern apartments or villas, roughly half the residents are clustered in slums on the city’s outskirts that lack plumbing, sewage or other public services.
Many, accustomed to a nomadic way of life, find it difficult to find or keep jobs in a labor market increasingly crowded by Chinese migrants. Neighborhoods fester with alcoholism, domestic violence and other social ills, and anger over official corruption and abuse of power is growing.
