Mongolian Youths Protest Against The Collusion Of Government And Business To Steal And Sell Coal To The Communist China

On Dec 6th, the foreign media reported that several hundred of people braved the cold to rally outside government buildings in Ulaanbaatar Mongolia on Dec. 5th, to denounce rampant corruption by coal companies and protest soaring prices.

The rally was held by young people aged 20 to 30, chanting slogans in the cold weather of only 21 degrees (F).

The protesters were accusing the serious corruption of coal-trading in the Tavan Tolgoi region in the south Gobi desert.

Also, they were demanding a thorough investigation into the theft of 385,000 tons of coal from stockpiles on Mongolia’s border with China. It is known that the coal mines in the area are mainly mined by state-owned Erdenes Tavan Tolgoi and two other companies. The coal trade is a major source of Mongolia’s government budget, and coal accounts for more than half of the country’s goods exports, mainly to China, Mongolia is still undergoing infrastructure expansion in order to rapidly increase the volume of goods exported.

Last month, one of the Mongolian parliament members revealed at a parliamentary press conference that a total of 6.4 million tons of coal, worth $1.8 billion, had not been recorded by Mongolian customs since 2013, but corresponding information could be found at Chinese customs. The protesters are angry about the corruption in Mongolia’s coal trade.

Observers further analyze that the sale of Mongolia’s vast mineral wealth, coal, and other resources has been a source of conflict in the country for years. With nearly a third of Mongolians living in poverty and the pandemic making life unsustainable for many more. Since the Russo-Ukrainian War, Mongolia’s economy has been in a state of weakness and inflation has soared to 15.2 percent. All of which has led to protests by Mongolians against the corruption and depletion of their livelihoods.