Western Ideals Draw Baker to Remote Mongolia : Foreign relations: He believes the once-rigid Communist nation is ripe for democratic change, aides say.

Why Mongolia? What is it about this remote, lightly populated Central Asian land that tugs at the heart of the usually unsentimental Secretary of State James A. Baker III?

Over the last 2 1/2 years, while often proclaiming the importance of American interests across the Pacific, the secretary of state has shown little, if any, eagerness for travel in Asia.

He has, so far, made at least 25 visits to Europe since taking office, and only four to Asia (excluding the Middle East).

And yet, while generally ignoring the world’s largest and most dynamic continent, Baker has taken a personal interest in Mongolia.

He came here once last summer, was forced to cut short his visit by the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and chose to return this year as a cooling-off point between his Mideast diplomacy and the Moscow summit next week.

By the time the secretary of state finishes a four-day stay here Monday, he will have spent about as much time in Mongolia--an undeveloped, landlocked collection of steppes, sheep and 2 million people--as he has in Japan, South Korea, China and Thailand combined.

Why? Baker and his aides portray his special interest in Mongolia largely as a matter of ideology. The secretary of state harbors the hope, dream or fantasy that he can help convert Mongolia to Western-style political and economic institutions.

In fact, Baker’s two favorite causes, they say, are Mongolia and Albania, nations with once-rigid Communist systems that are now beginning to make the switch to democracy and market economics.

“He’s really interested in these two countries, Mongolia and Albania, because he thinks they’re small enough that they can make the transition to a free-market economy,” one of Baker’s aides said.

“He wants to help one of these (formerly Communist) countries break free,” another aide said. “With Mongolia’s location between the Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China, you could have a success story that these other two countries could follow by example.”

In a speech to the People’s Great Hural, Mongolia’s legislature, here Friday, the secretary of state, without mentioning either China or the Soviet Union, sounded themes that were clearly aimed at Mongolia’s two important neighbors.

“Mongolia has placed itself at the crossroads of a new order for Asia and the world--an order based on democratic values and free markets,” Baker declared, in words seemingly directed toward Beijing. “You were the first country in Asia to embrace communism. Now, you are the first Communist country in Asia to choose democracy. . . .

“To some, the democratic process appears to be a prescription for anarchy and chaos. Yet it is not,” Baker said, in words aimed in the direction of Moscow. “ . . . However daunting the obstacles you face may seem, retreat to the ways of the past can only make the move more difficult.”

Actually, the obstacles Mongolia now faces are daunting.

The Soviet Union, which for four decades supplied Mongolia with commodities and spare parts in exchange for raw materials, in January began demanding hard currency from Mongolia, as it now does from other nations.

The result has been economic disaster. Because of a lack of foreign exchange, Mongolia’s imports this year have fallen 50%, factories are being shut down for lack of spare parts and unemployment is around 20%.

“Even their ambulances are breaking down because of a lack of spare parts,” one U.S. official said.

The United States is scrambling to help its new Asian friend with supplies, money and expertise. The Bush Administration has already rushed in 30,000 tons of wheat. It is also shipping Mongolia some ambulances and 60,000 pounds of medical equipment from U.S. stockpiles in the Persian Gulf.

In his speech Friday, Baker said he would ask Congress to approve $10 million in additional aid to help Mongolia through the rough times.

Peace Corps volunteers are beginning to arrive, along with American banking specialists to help set up a Mongolian stock exchange and technical experts to help Mongolia get money from the International Monetary Fund.

There are some hints that American interests here may extend beyond sheer altruism.

With its location along the main transportation route from Moscow to Beijing, Mongolia could prove to be a valuable listening post from which the United States might keep track of developments in both China and the Soviet Union, while being under the jurisdiction and control of neither.

For more than a decade, the United States has operated intelligence stations in China to monitor the Soviet military. But maintaining these stations depends on the goodwill of the Chinese--and at the moment, Chinese goodwill toward the United States is not what it used to be. Among the many other American specialists making the trek to Mongolia these days have been some U.S. government experts on military and intelligence affairs.

State Department officials do not discuss intelligence matters, and Baker of course did not mention these interests in his speech Friday. Rather, he told the Mongolian legislature that he came here “as an American, a Texan and an outdoorsman.”

“As a Texan, I believe in the strength that comes from life on the frontier,” he said. “ . . . As an outdoorsman, I believe in the wonder of nature.”

In general, Baker is not a junketeer. Indeed, the current secretary of state is so determinedly businesslike on his overseas trips that he has become notorious for his lack of interest in sightseeing or pleasure stops.

But beyond Baker’s interest in promoting Mongolian free markets and democracy, he has shown a great desire to see this beautifully green country, its scenic steppes and extraordinary wildlife.

He originally intended to go hunting and fishing here last year. Before that trip, there was a brief flap over whether he might seek to hunt the argali sheep, an endangered species. State Department spokeswoman Margaret Tutwiler said that Baker would never hunt an endangered species and that he would do no more than look at the argali.

A year ago, Baker’s planned visit to a Mongolian stretch of the Gobi desert had to be scrapped when he flew off to Moscow and Washington to deal with the Iraqi invasion.

On July 20, while on his recent Mideast trip, Baker announced that he would return here and try once again to visit the Gobi this weekend. The trip was scheduled on less than a week’s notice--and with Baker’s hunting and fishing gear left behind in the States.

The short notice forced the tiny new U.S. Embassy in Mongolia and other American officials in China to scramble, hustle and improvise to provide a semblance of the usual services supplied for a visiting secretary of state. Beer was flown in from Israel, other supplies were rushed aboard Baker’s plane in Malaysia, and U.S. Embassy officials from Beijing were suddenly pressed into service.

The frantic last-minute arrangements were seemingly a matter of considerable sensitivity. “I can talk to you about anything except the arrangements for this trip,” one embassy official from Beijing volunteered to a reporter who hadn’t asked.

Upon Baker’s arrival at the Ikn Tengher State Guest House, a mild-mannered American named John Aldis was beginning to hand out room assignments when one visitor asked where the door keys were. “I don’t really know,” Aldis confessed. “I’m the embassy doctor in Beijing.”

Mongolia at a Glance

The Mongolian People’s Republic, homeland of such legendary figures as Genghis Khan and Tamerlane, occupies a vast area of steppe, mountain and desert between the Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China. Khalkha Mongols make up 76% of the population, with other Mongols (13%), Turkic-speaking peoples (7%) and Chinese, Russian and Tungusic peoples making up the remainder. The economy has traditionally been pastoral, with animal husbandry, now largely collectivized, representing the bulk of the economic output. Population: 2,086,000 (1990 estimate). Area: 604,247 square miles. Major urban centers: Ulan Bator, the capital, 500,000. Darhan, 75,000. Political status: Independent since 1921, Mongolia established the Communist People’s Republic in 1924, the first Communist state outside the Soviet Union. Closely allied with the Soviet Union, it aligned itself with Moscow during the Sino-Soviet dispute. Relations with China thawed somewhat in the mid-1980s, and in 1989 and 1990 Moscow withdrew a substantial portion of its 50,000 troops stationed in Mongolia. The Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party subsequently dropped the word communism from its constitution.