The EconomistJanuary 30th 2021 Asia 292 Doubts about the Biden administration
are probably strongest in Japan, whose
leaders see the current Chinese regime as
an existential threat and tend to prefer
working with Republicans. Yet the admin-
istration’s early utterances about Asia have
impressed Mr Miyake and others. The simi-
larity to the Trumpian analysis in terms of
the challenges that America and Asia face
is striking. The chief difference between
the two administrations lies in the Biden
team’s proposed response.
Competition with China remains “a de-
fining feature of the 21st century”, Mr Bi-
den’s chief spokeswoman, Jen Psaki, as-
serted this week. China, she added, “is
engaged in conduct that hurts American
workers, blunts our technological edge and
threatens our alliances and our influence
in international organisations.” The new
defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, went fur-
ther, defining China as the biggest threat to
the United States—and by implication its
friends in Asia. He has since reassured his
Japanese counterpart that America’s secu-
rity treaty with Japan, a cornerstone of Ja-
pan’s defence, covers the remote Senkaku
islands, which China claims and around
which hostile vessels from the Chinese
coast guard often prowl.
Mr Biden’s team talks of holding China
“accountable” for economic abuses, forced
technology transfers and bullying at global
organisations—pure Trump-era talk. It
seems comfortable with Mr Pompeo’s last-
minute abolition of long-standing con-
straints in contacts with Taiwan, despite
the potential for friction with China. Mean-
while, Taiwan’s de facto ambassador in
Washington, Hsiao Bi-khim, was conspic-
uously invited to Mr Biden’s inauguration.
Arms sales to the island will continue.
But incoming American officials stress
differences with their predecessors. One is
greater economic and diplomatic engage-
ment. Ms Psaki and others refer repeatedly
to working with coalitions, partners and al-
lies—a page missing from Mr Trump’s play-
book. They plan to consult with others in
Asia before speaking to China. They want
to engage much more with asean, a ten-
country South-East Asian club that Mr
Trump neglected. To counter Chinese ex-
pansion, America will look not only to the
“Quad” of America, Australia, India and Ja-
pan but also try to strengthen the military
capabilities of allies in South-East Asia.
The administration’s determination to
reassure is a mark of how far it thinks
America’s standing in the region has fallen.
Despite its efforts, one question keeps be-
ing asked in Asia’s capitals: will the scale of
the pandemic in America, the resulting
economic dislocation and the torture of its
democratic institutions leave it self-ab-
sorbed for years to come? The old Washing-
ton hands may be back, as Mr Miyake
notes, but is America? 7
I
t is rarefor anti-government demon-
strators to see their demands met after a
single day of protest. Yet the crowds of
Mongolians who braved the biting cold of
their capital, Ulaanbaatar, calling for heads
to roll because of the mistreatment of a
hospital patient got what they wanted—
and more. Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh, the
prime minister, announced the resigna-
tion of his entire government.
“The joke all over Ulaanbaatar is that the
prime minister’s resignation shocked even
the protesters,” says a bigwig of the ruling
Mongolian People’s Party (mpp). But far
from a joking matter, this episode, along
with other recent goings-on, shows that
Mongolia is bogged in the same old mire
that has held back the country since it
threw off Russia’s domination more than
three decades ago and took up democracy.
Politics has been turbulent, sometimes
clownish. Corruption is widespread. And
the mining industry, which dominates the
economy, is still woefully mismanaged.
Though Mr Khurelsukh ostentatiously
portrayed his resignation as a gesture of ac-
countability, many see it as a cynical ploy
to polish his image in the run-up to presi-
dential elections scheduled for June. The
protest’s immediate cause was a relatively
minor matter: the apparent mistreatment
of a woman who, after giving birth, was
diagnosed with covid-19 and then brusque-
ly transferred to a hospital for infectiousdiseases. A widely aired video, showing her
in a dressing gown and slippers being
moved outdoors with her baby in the bitter
cold and into an ambulance, sparked the
angry demonstrations.
Mr Khurelsukh remains chairman of
the mpp and is likely to keep pulling the
strings. His replacement as prime minister
is a close ally. Observers in Ulanbaatar are
comparing the resignation to political
manoeuvres in neighbouring Russia and
nearby Kazakhstan. They note that Russia’s
president, Vladimir Putin, once swapped
jobs for four years with his prime minister
without letting go of the reins. The long-
serving ruler of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Na-
zarbayev, has retained great influence over
his handpicked successor since resigning
in 2019.
Mr Khurelsukh is thought to be plan-
ning a run for president, and may want to
distance himself from unpopular policies
that could be a liability in the campaign.
The demonstrators complained not only
about the treatment of the new mother but
also about the mishandling of the pan-
demic by the government. It has tried to
suppress transmission through an eco-
nomically ruinous lockdown. Unemploy-
ment is high and frustration with public-
health restrictions is growing.
The incumbent president, Khaltmaa-
giin Battulga, who first earned fame as a
wrestler, may find himself pinned down by
a new constitutional amendment that lim-
its presidents to a single six-year term in-
stead of two four-year stints. He has been
in office for four years. The courts will have
to decide whether he can stand again.
Whoever wins the election will face
some familiar problems. Politicians are
again bickering over the terms of a deal
with Rio Tinto, a mining firm that is the
manager of and a big shareholder in the
Oyu Tolgoi gold-and-copper mine, Mongo-
lia’s biggest mining project. Successive
Mongolian governments have tinkered
endlessly with the ownership, taxation and
financing of the mine, in which it currently
owns a one-third stake, to secure a better
deal for the country.
Camped outside parliament as it voted
to approve the new prime minister was
Sainkhuu Ganbaatar, an mp who ran for
president last time around. He is on a hun-
ger strike to press the new government to
assert itself against Rio Tinto. He narrowly
missed qualifying for the run-off in 2017,
with more than 30% of the vote. His mes-
sage remains the same: corrupt individuals
have taken their cut while selling the coun-
try short. Other bigwigs have come under
fire for owning fancy homes in Hong Kong,
London and New York.
The mining controversy and corruption
seem certain to dominate the campaign.
And disgruntled demonstrators are sure to
have plenty to protest against. 7BEIJING
The government abruptly resigns after
a small street protestMongoliaSnowflake
surrender
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