Clinton Praises Mongolian System
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told an audience in Mongolia that her visit is a reminder of U.S. support for democracy in a region where China's influence continues to deepen.
In remarks Monday in Ulan Bator, Mrs. Clinton credited Mongolia with demonstrating that a blazing economy provides an opportunity to expand personal freedoms, and pushed back against repeated assertions from Beijing that democracy is unsuited to the region.
"I'm also pleased this meeting is happening here in Asia because we need to dispel the myth that democracy is a Western value," Mrs. Clinton said. "People everywhere want a voice in the decisions that affect their lives."
Mrs. Clinton credited Mongolia's "courage" in building a democratic system in territory surrounded by Russia and China, and sustaining it while its mining-based economy became one of the world's fastest growing.
In public, Ms. Clinton didn't dwell on Mongolia's most recent round of legislative elections, in which a popular politician was forcibly sidelined, the result was contested and there is still no clear leadership mandate almost two weeks after the vote. The current president's Democratic Party won the most votes June 28, but not a majority.
A person familiar with the matter said Mrs. Clinton discussed the election with President Tsakhia Elbegdorj, but offered no details. The person said the secretary of state also raised the case of former President Enkhbayar Nambar, who had hoped to run for a parliamentary seat but was deemed ineligible due to a corruption case filed shortly before the vote. Mr. Enkhbayar denies charges against him.
After visiting Afghanistan and Japan over the weekend, Ms. Clinton is scheduled to spend the remainder of the week in other countries on China's periphery: Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. Her most recent trip to China, in May, produced a series of economic and political agreements and paved the way for the departure to the U.S. of blind Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng.
"My trip reflects a strategic priority of American foreign policy today,'' Ms. Clinton said Monday, according to the Associated Press. "After 10 years in which we focused a great deal of attention on the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, the United States is making substantially increased investments—diplomatic, economic, strategic and otherwise—in this part of the world. It's what we call our pivot toward Asia.''
Write to James T. Areddy at james.areddy@wsj.com
In remarks Monday in Ulan Bator, Mrs. Clinton credited Mongolia with demonstrating that a blazing economy provides an opportunity to expand personal freedoms, and pushed back against repeated assertions from Beijing that democracy is unsuited to the region.
"I'm also pleased this meeting is happening here in Asia because we need to dispel the myth that democracy is a Western value," Mrs. Clinton said. "People everywhere want a voice in the decisions that affect their lives."
Mrs. Clinton credited Mongolia's "courage" in building a democratic system in territory surrounded by Russia and China, and sustaining it while its mining-based economy became one of the world's fastest growing.
In public, Ms. Clinton didn't dwell on Mongolia's most recent round of legislative elections, in which a popular politician was forcibly sidelined, the result was contested and there is still no clear leadership mandate almost two weeks after the vote. The current president's Democratic Party won the most votes June 28, but not a majority.
A person familiar with the matter said Mrs. Clinton discussed the election with President Tsakhia Elbegdorj, but offered no details. The person said the secretary of state also raised the case of former President Enkhbayar Nambar, who had hoped to run for a parliamentary seat but was deemed ineligible due to a corruption case filed shortly before the vote. Mr. Enkhbayar denies charges against him.
After visiting Afghanistan and Japan over the weekend, Ms. Clinton is scheduled to spend the remainder of the week in other countries on China's periphery: Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. Her most recent trip to China, in May, produced a series of economic and political agreements and paved the way for the departure to the U.S. of blind Chinese dissident Chen Guangcheng.
"My trip reflects a strategic priority of American foreign policy today,'' Ms. Clinton said Monday, according to the Associated Press. "After 10 years in which we focused a great deal of attention on the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, the United States is making substantially increased investments—diplomatic, economic, strategic and otherwise—in this part of the world. It's what we call our pivot toward Asia.''
Write to James T. Areddy at james.areddy@wsj.com
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