China reviews coal mining after Mongolian protests

Jun 1, 2011, 11:03 GMT

Beijing - China launched a review of coal mining in its vast Inner Mongolia region Wednesday after widespread protests by ethnic Mongolians, the government said.

The regional coal-mining bureau ordered a one-month review of all mines to 'ensure safe production practices, protection of the environment and attention to the welfare of local residents,' state media reported.

The official Xinhua news agency said an overhaul of mining operations in the Xilingol area since May 20 had already resulted in the closure of four mining companies and the suspension of 34 others for 'operational reasons, such as environmental damage, harassment of local residents and safety issues.'

Officials promised the review after protests last month in many areas of Inner Mongolia following the deaths of two Mongolians in clashes with coal miners in Xilingol.

The protesting Mongolians, who are a minority in the region, demanded greater respect for their traditional culture and animal husbandry on Inner Mongolia's grasslands.

Some of the protesters carried banners bearing Mongolian slogans, including, 'Defend the rights of Mongols' and 'Defend the homeland.'

The US-based Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Centre on Wednesday said several hundred Mongolian high-school students staged a protest Tuesday in the regional capital, Hohhot, despite a heavy police presence in the city.

The students marched toward the city government headquarters from Hohhot's Number 18 High School before they were blocked by paramilitary police and dispersed, the group said.

The ruling Communist Party last week sacked Hai Ming, the party secretary of Xi Wu Qi, a city called Left Ujumchin Banner in Mongolian, where protests first erupted after the May 10 death of Mergen, a leader of Mongolian herders who were trying to block a convoy of coal trucks.

'The party committee and the government will definitely handle the relations between mining exploration and the protection of people's interests,' Hu Chunhua, the Communist Party's regional secretary, said in a statement posted on the regional government's website Wednesday.

But in a reported speech to students in Xi Wu Qi, Hu said economic development would continue to be the 'most important task' for the government in Inner Mongolia.

Xinhua on Wednesday said local courts would soon try four people on charges of murder linked to the deaths of Mergen and a second Mongolian in clashes between miners and herders on May 15.

About 4 million Mongolians live in China, most of them in Inner Mongolia, where they now make up less than 20 per cent of the population of more than 20 million people.

Many Mongolians resent what they perceive as encroachment by the majority Han Chinese population upon the region's grazing lands.

State media on Friday quoted officials as saying Inner Mongolia would remain at the forefront of a national plan to expand coal production by developing large open-cast mines.

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