Mongolia–United States relations

Several American travelers and traders visited Mongolia in the 19th century, then under Qing rule. The earliest example is dated to 1862, when an American and French traveler were given a travel pass permitting them to transit Mongolia. Travelers included the journalist Thomas W. Knox, diplomat William Woodville Rockhill, as well as the then-engineer and future president Herbert Hoover, the latter of which met the future Bogd Khan in about 1899.[6] The amount of Americans traveling to Urga became so frequent in the early 20th century that an area in the city with a number of American businesses became known as the American Denj (denj referring to a hill)[6] starting around 1909.[7]

After Mongolia declared independence in 1911, the new government headed by the Bogd Khan sent letters of independence containing requests for recognition to a number of consulates stationed in Harbin, including that of the United States, addressing them as the Great Mei (Chinese: 美).[8] While the United States did not recognize Mongolia's independence at this time, it did open a consulate in Kalgan, Inner Mongolia (now Zhangjiakou), partially to promote the interests of Americans in Inner and Outer Mongolia. The consulate was housed in a building leased from Frans August Larson, and opened on 1 April 1921, the same year of the communist revolution of 1921. The first consul appointed to Kalgan, Samuel Sokobin, visited Ulaanbaatar and met with prime minister Dogsomyn Bodoo several times, who wrote an article for The Nation magazine in November 1921. Another prime minister with ties to the United States was Soliin Danzan, who represented the "American-Mongolian automobile company". The explorer Roy Chapman Andrews mounted a series of expeditions to Mongolia from 1922–1930. By the late 1920s, however, Mongolia had fallen firmly under the Soviet orbit and hopes for expanded relations were dashed.[6]

Henry A. Wallace became the first sitting vice president to visit Mongolia in 1944. After World War II some American politicans started to call for recognition of Mongolia's independence, including Mike Mansfield, who endorsed recognition in the 1940s, and whose 1960 speech from the floor of the Senate served as a catalyst for US acquiescence to Mongolia's admittance to the United Nations in 1961. The United States abstained during the motion, having previously voiced opposition to Mongolia's inclusion in 1946 and 1947. President John F. Kennedy floated the idea of recognizing Mongolia in 1962, though this was opposed by Chiang Kai-shek's nationalist government in China,[6] who continued to claim Mongolia, and whose government was recognized by the United States as controlling mainland China.

The U.S. government recognized Mongolia in January 1987 and established its first embassy in Ulaanbaatar in June 1988, formally opening in September 1988. The first U.S. ambassador to Mongolia, Richard L. Williams, was not a resident there. Joseph E. Lake, the first resident ambassador, arrived in July 1990. Secretary of State James Baker visited Mongolia in August 1990, and again in July 1991. Mongolia accredited its first ambassador to the United States in March 1989. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright visited Mongolia in May 1998, and Prime Minister Nambaryn Enkhbayar visited the American capital Washington, DC in November 2001. Deputy Secretary of State Richard L. Armitage visited Mongolia in January 2004, and Mongolian President Natsagiin Bagabandi came to Washington for a meeting with President George W. Bush in July 2004. President Bush, First Lady Laura Bush, and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited Mongolia in November 2005.[9] Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld visited in October 2005 and Speaker of the House of Representatives Dennis Hastert visited Mongolia in August 2005. Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns led a presidential delegation in July 2006 in conjunction with Mongolia's celebration of its 800th anniversary. President Enkhbayar visited the White House in October 2007 and the two Presidents signed the Millennium Challenge Compact for Mongolia.

The United States has sought to assist Mongolia's movement toward democracy and market-oriented reform and to expand relations with Mongolia primarily in the cultural and economic fields. In 1989 and 1990, a cultural accord, Peace Corps accord, consular convention, and Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) agreement were signed. A trade agreement was signed in January 1991 and a bilateral investment treaty in 1994. Mongolia was granted permanent normal trade relations (NTR) status and Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) eligibility in June 1999.

In July 2004, the U.S. signed a Trade and Investment Framework Agreement with Mongolia to promote economic reform and more foreign investment. In July 2007, six members of the U.S. House of Representatives visited Mongolia to inaugurate an exchange program between lawmakers of the two countries. The return visit came in August 2007, with five members of the Mongolian Parliament traveling to the U.S. In September 2007, the White House announced the proposed creation of an Asia-Pacific Democracy Partnership, in which Mongolia was invited to take part. The initiative is aimed at providing a venue in which free nations can work together to support democratic values, strengthen democratic institutions, and assist those who are working to build and sustain free societies.

In August 2011, on a side trip while traveling to China and Japan, Joe Biden made the first visit by a sitting vice president to Mongolia since 1944.[10][11] In 2012, the two countries celebrated their 25th anniversary of diplomatic relations.[12]

In early 2021, it was found in a declassified secret document that Mongolia holds a strategic importance to the US in advancing the Indo-Pacific region.[13]

US and Mongolia signed an Open Skies Agreement in early 2023 paving the way for non-stop flights between the two countries.[14]

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) plays a lead role in providing bilateral development assistance to Mongolia. The program emphasizes one major theme: sustainable, private sector-led economic growth and more effective and accountable governance. Total USAID assistance to Mongolia from 1991 through 2008 was about $174.5 million, all in grant form. USAID Mongolia's FY 2007 budget of $6.625 million a year promotes: a) economic growth that support macroeconomic policy reform, energy sector restructuring, financial sector reform, and micro and small enterprise development; and b) governing justly and democratically by focusing on activities supporting judicial sector reform, electoral reform, parliamentary reform, and anti-corruption.

In most years since 1993, the United States Department of Agriculture has provided food aid to Mongolia under the Food for Progress and 416(b) programs. The monetized proceeds of the food aid ($4.2 million in 2006) are currently used to support programs bolstering entrepreneurship, herder livelihood diversification, and better veterinary services.

The Peace Corps has approximately 100 volunteers in Mongolia. They are engaged primarily in English teaching and teacher training activities. At the request of the Government of Mongolia, the Peace Corps has developed programs in the areas of public health, small business development, and youth development. In 2005 and 2006 Mongolian Government officials, including President Enkhbayar and Prime Minister Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj, requested significant increases in the number of volunteers serving in country. The Peace Corps has responded with a commitment to make modest annual increases until 2010. The program celebrated its 15th anniversary in 2006 with participation by President Enkhbayar.

The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) completed negotiations for a Compact with Mongolia [15] in 2007 and the Compact was signed at the White House in October 2007.[16][17] By the end of the compact in September 2013, the Government of Mongolia and MCC had spent 94 percent of the anticipated compact funds to increase land security, reduce impacts of non-communicable diseases and injuries, provide enhanced vocational training, expand distribution of energy-efficient household products, and construct roads for commercial traffic. The Government of Mongolia and MCC expect more than 2 million people to benefit from the investments over the 20-year lifetime of the investment.[18] In December 2014, the MCC Board of Directors selected Mongolia for the development of a second compact. Currently, MCC and Mongolian officials are conducting an analysis of the country's economy and constraints to growth.[19]

In 2020, the U.S. government provided 1.2 million USD through U.S. Agency for International Development to the World Health Organization and the United Nations Children's Fund to support the Mongolian government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. [20]

Mongolia has contributed small numbers of troops to coalition operations in Iraq and Afghanistan[21] since 2003, gaining experience which enabled it to deploy armed peacekeepers to both United Nations and NATO peacekeeping missions in 2005. With U.S. Department of Defense assistance and cooperation, Mongolia and the U.S. jointly hosted Khaan Quest, the Asian region's premier peace-keeping exercise, in the summer of 2006, becoming an annual exercise. The U.S. has also supported defense reform and an increased capacity by Mongolia's armed forces to participate in international peacekeeping operations. Mongolia has also been designated as a "global partner" of the NATO alliance, of which the U.S. is a founding member, through the Individual Partnership and Cooperation Programme approved in 2012.[22]

Some immigrants came from Mongolia to the United States as early as 1949, spurred by religious persecution in their homeland.[23] The 2020 Mongolian National Census reported 19,170 Mongolian citizens as residing in the United States, while the Pew Research Center estimated 27,000 people of Mongolian ancestry living in the United States in 2019.[24]

As of 2014, there were 1,444 international students of Mongolian origin studying in the United States.[25]

In March, 2011, six mining companies including Peabody of St. Louis, Missouri were preparing a bid for the Tavan Tolgoi area, the location of a substantial coking coal deposit.[26]

Biden's 2011 visit, according to Richard C. Bush of the Brookings Institution, may be able to encourage Mongolia's democracy and U.S. relations in the face of both Mongolia's predominantly natural-resource-driven political economy and its two powerful landlocking neighbors, China and Russia.[10]

Following Joe Biden's campaign in the U.S. presidential elections in 2020, who said that he would take measures against the "dirtiest coal[27]", the U.S. administration may look into renewable energy development in Mongolia, which could help the country's economy diversify away from coal productions.[28]

The current Ambassador to Mongolia is Richard Buangan, who was appointed by President Joe Biden on November 17, 2022.[29][30] The current Ambassador to the United States is Batbayar Ulziidelger, who presented diplomatic credentials on December 1, 2021.[31]

Mongolia maintains an embassy in Washington, D.C. and Consulate Generals in San Francisco[32] and Chicago[33]. The United States maintains an embassy in Ulaanbaatar.

• Embassy of the United States, Ulaanbaatar
• Embassy of Mongolia, Washington, D.C.

• Diluwa Khutugtu Jamsrangjab

 This article incorporates public domain material from ""U.S. Relations with Mongolia Fact Sheet"". U.S. Bilateral Relations Fact Sheets. United States Department of State.

• Campi, Alicia, R. Baasan, et al. The Impact of China and Russia on United States-Mongolian Political Relations in the Twentieth Century (2009)
• Campi, Alicia Jean. The Political Relationship between the United States and Outer Mongolia, 1915-1927: Kalgan Consular Records (Indiana UP, 1987).
• Dumbaugh, Kerry, and Wayne M. Morrison. Mongolia and US Policy: Political and Economic Relations (Congressional Research Service, 2007) online.
• Porter, Ron A. "Realpolitik in Mongolia-US relations." Ritsumeikan Journal of Asia Pacific Studies' 26.1 (2009): 49–63. online

• History of Mongolia–U.S. relations