20,555
edits
Changes
SW: →Potential coal mine prospects: - add section
Mongolia has extensive coal deposits which have been only relatively recently begun to be explored and defined with modern exploration techniques. As a result of China's massive demand for coal and the high prices for quality coking coal, a coal rush is currently under way with numerous companies scrambling to get mineral exploration and mining titles in Mongolia. Many coal prospects may boost the share price of otherwise small companies but few deposits are likely to be developed in the short term. See '''[[Coal mine prospects in Mongolia]]''' for further details.
==Local Opposition==
In recent years, Inner Mongolia has become China's leading producer of coal and rare earth elements, squeezing out the indigenous Mongolian community from their homelands. Tensions increased after May 11, 2011, when a Han Chinese coal-truck driver ran over a 35-year-old Mongolian herder, known as Mergen, as Mergen tried to stop a convoy driving across fenced prairies in Xiwu. Allegations that the killing was deliberate inflamed passions in the indigenous Mongolian community, and protests erupted in at least three places.
Video clips posted online by overseas supporters show herders being arrested after a face-off with military police in Ujumchin the previous week. According to overseas groups, crowds also took to the streets in Huveet Shar on May 26 and Shuluun Huh on Friday with banners declaring: "Defend the rights of Mongols" and "Defend the homeland". The biggest protest was in Xilinhot, where 1,000 students in yellow and blue uniforms marched through the broad streets to the government headquarters on May 26.
Locals said 35-year-old Mergen was leading about 40 herders who tried to block a convoy of coal trucks from the Tongcheng No 2 colliery. The drivers had reportedly run down fences and intruded on nomads' land to avoid a bumpy road. After a protracted stand-off, the drivers are said to have crashed through the herders, killing Mergen. One widely cited but unverifiable claim is that the driver boasted he was sufficiently insured to cover the death of a "smelly Mongolian herder". The author of this report – a Mongolian blogger named Zorigt – wrote: "In order to take a shortcut, these coal-hauling trucks have randomly run over local herders' grazing lands, not only killing numerous heads of livestock but also further damaging the already weakened fragile grassland."
Students place more faith in such blogs than the government version of events. Many students are from herding families who have been moved into cities as the wide-open pastures are fenced off. The government says such measures are necessary to promote development, prevent overgrazing and protect the fragile grasslands, much of which have turned to desert in recent years. Locals say herders' rights have been violated and the fencing and mining have created bigger environmental problems, including pollution, noise, traffic and [[coal dust]] storms that blow across much of north-east Asia.
Mongolian activists have called for rolling protests through the region, culminating in a rally in Genghis Khan Square in Hulunbuir on May 23. The authorities have tried to placate protesters by arresting four men for the killing and damage to grasslands, with a promise of a full investigation and compensation for the bereaved. The media outler ''The Guardian'' reported being blocked from entering the road into West Ujimchin where Mergen was killed, told by an officer that it was "Special circumstances. You're not allowed in. It's not safe." At 4.30 the next morning, two plainclothes police entered the Guardian's hotel room, woke the correspondent, and tried to conduct an interrogation.
Chinese authorities are nervous about signs of unrest in areas with large ethnic minorities, such as Tibet and Xinjiang, which also experience tensions between herders and mining settlers. Inner Mongolia is usually considered less of a security threat because its overseas supporters are less vocal in calling for independence, it does not have a charismatic leader such as the [[Dalai Lama]] and its indigenous community has already been numerically overwhelmed by an influx of Han migrants who now comprise 79% of the population. But there is a heavy security presence, and police are ruthless in quashing dissent.
==Articles and Resources==