CHINA’S INNER MONGOLIA: A JASMINE REVOLUTION WITH A

DIFFERENCE

B.RAMAN

China’s Inner Mongolia, where Mongolians are in a minority of only

20 per cent of the total population of 23 million, has been going
through a Jasmine type Revolution with a difference since May 10.
There have been widespread protests in different towns following
the death of a herdsman by name Mergen who was allegedly killed
by a Han Chinese truck driver when local herdsmen protested
against mining operations in their area. Mergen was among a group
of Mongolians who attempted to block a caravan of coal-hauling
trucks in Xilingol.

2. The protests, which started spontaneously in a fit of rage over his

death, have not so far seen demands for political reforms or
independence. The protests till now have been against the modern
way of life imposed on the Mongolians, a nomadic people who love
their grasslands, by the Chinese craze for development.

3.The Mongolian youth, who came out of their universities and

schools to protest against the death of Mergen, are now protesting
against the widespread damage to their environment, grasslands
and nomadic way of life due to the large scale exploitation of coal in
the area through open-cast mining to feed the power stations in the
rest of China.

4. There has been large scale destruction of their grasslands due to

mining and infrastructure development. Their nomadic way of life is
being destroyed by the modern way of life brought in by the Han
Chinese who have come from outside the province and settled down
there.

5. As it happened in Tibet, the Chinese calculation that the

economic development of the province and prosperity would make

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the Mongolians reconcile themselves to the loss of their nomadic
way of life have proved wrong.

6. Western sources see in the reports of the protests from Inner

Mongolia the beginning of an anti-Han political revolt. It does not
appear to be so----at least not till now. The protests have been not
against Han political and economic domination, but against Beijing’s
attempts to impose on Inner Mongolia a development model not
suited to them and which is proving detrimental to the Mongolian
way of life.

7. Mongolian exiles living outside China---particularly in the West---

are hoping that the protests will take a political turn and create one
more pocket of alienation along China’s periphery--- with the
Mongolians joining the ranks of the Tibetans and the Uighurs in
protesting against the Han colonisation of Inner Mongolia, which
Mongolian exiles call Southern Mongolia to link it in the minds of the
people with the independent Republic of Mongolia, where His
Holiness the Dalai Lama has a large following.

8. It is too late in the day for the Mongolians to hope for separation
from China. The Hans are in a crushing majority in Inner Mongolia.
No separatist movement can hope to succeed. Will it be possible to
protect and preserve the Mongolian way of life based on their in-
born love of their grasslands? That is a question that needs to be
addressed in dealing with the protest movement. Beijing does not
seem to be doing so. It is viewing it purely as a law and order and an
internal security problem.

9. However, the Xinhua news agency reported that Inner Mongolia's

Communist Party chief Hu Chunhua said on May 27 that "public
anger has been immense" and that he would meet with students. He
added: "We must correctly handle the relationship between the
exploration of resources and the protection of the interests of
people in Inner Mongolia.”

10.The unrest has involved thousands of protesters in different

areas. Hundreds of students and herdsmen took to the streets of

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Chifeng on May 28, according to the US-based Southern Mongolian
Human Rights Information Centre. Police and para-military
reinforcements have been rushed by the authorities to Hohhot, the
provincial capital, and Universities have been sealed off in the cities
of Tongliao and Ordos.

11.The Information Centre has reportedly called for a province-wide

protest "to demand that the Government of China respect the
human rights, life and dignity of the Mongols in China and to resolve
the case of Mergen in a just and fair manner."

12. Apprehending the use of the Internet by the protesting students

and political exiles to spread disaffection against the authorities,
the Chinese authorities have imposed controls on Internet cafes. (2-
6-11)

( The writer is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt.

of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical
Studies, Chennai, and Associate of the Chennai Centre for China
Studies. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com )