Mongolia Receives First U.S. Ambassador

A State Department official told reporters here Tuesday that he has presented his credentials as the first U.S. ambassador to the Mongolian People’s Republic.

“At this time, when the political tides of the world are shifting, it’s a very hopeful sign that we’re able to do this with Mongolia,” said the appointee, Richard Williams, who heads the State Department’s Office of Chinese and Mongolian Affairs.

“The relations are important for themselves, and at this time of what we all hope is a worldwide political thaw, they are one gratifying element in what is happening,” he added.

Mongolia, one of the most isolated countries in the world, is sandwiched between China and the Siberian region of the Soviet Union. It has been a close Soviet ally since declaring its independence from China in 1921.

Ties Established in 1987

The United States and Mongolia established diplomatic relations in January, 1987, but it was only two months ago that Williams was appointed ambassador. He presented his credentials in the course of a 10-day visit that ended last Sunday.

Williams said that for a variety of reasons, including Spartan embassy facilities and severe winters with temperatures as low as 50 degrees below zero, he will not take up residence in the Mongolian capital of Ulan Bator. Instead, he said, he will continue to live in Washington and expects to visit Mongolia about twice a year.

Two U.S. diplomats have been stationed in Ulan Bator for the last six months, working out of an apartment building, but they too will leave for the winter, he said. The embassy will be staffed on a permanent basis beginning next spring, he said.

After a variety of physical and logistical problems have been solved, he said, “it is my hope that we will then have a resident ambassador.”

Williams said the embassy will promote friendly relations and trade and will serve American citizens traveling in Mongolia. Trade between the two countries averages about $3 million a year, mostly in cashmere and camel’s hair exported to the United States. Growing numbers of tourists have begun to visit the country.

“Beyond that, I think it can provide us with an interesting additional view of the state of Mongolian-Soviet, Mongolian-Chinese and Sino-Soviet relations,” Williams said.

The Soviet Union, in a bid to improve its relations with China, withdrew about 12,000 troops from Mongolia last year, but it is still thought to have about 50,000 troops in the country. China has pressed the Soviet Union to withdraw these troops--and to pull back much larger numbers of soldiers stationed along the Soviet border with China--in order to promote a general improvement in Sino-Soviet relations.

Once Part of China

From 1644 to 1911, during the Ching Dynasty, Mongolia was part of the Chinese empire. Immediately after taking power in 1949, China’s Communist government recognized Mongolia as an independent country.

But the Nationalist government on Taiwan has never abandoned its claim to be the legitimate government of all China, including Mongolia.

The United States considered establishing diplomatic relations with Mongolia in the 1960s but did not, in part to avoid offending the Nationalists, Williams said. The United States broke its formal diplomatic ties with Taipei in 1979 in favor of recognizing Beijing.