Qin Gang, the Chinese ambassador to the US, has said Beijing will work to achieve peace between Russia and Ukraine, rather than sending arms to any side in the conflict. Russia attacked Ukraine on February 24, advancing on Kiev and other cities.

Appearing on CBS News’ Face the Nation on Sunday, Qin said China will not send weapons or ammunition to Russia or Ukraine. “We will do everything to de-escalate the crisis,” he added.

Beijing has refused to condemn Moscow for its military campaign in Ukraine and, unlike many Western countries and some of their allies, did not impose any sanctions on Russia. Beijing’s defiant stance prompted the White House to warn of “consequences” should it help Moscow to bypass sanctions in any way.

Qin noted that China continues to maintain “normal” economic relations with Russia in all spheres, including the economy. Condemning Moscow will not help to achieve peace, he argued.

“On the one hand, China upholds the UN purposes and principles, including the respect for the national sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries, including Ukraine,” the diplomat said. “On the other hand, we do see that there is a complexity in the history of the Ukraine issue.”

“China has good relations with Russia, has good relations with Ukraine, and China keeps close communications with the United States and with Europe. They enable China to reach out to all parties concerned in a crisis,” Qin said, adding that Beijing’s “unique role” can help to resolve the crisis.

Moscow attacked its neighbor in late February, following a seven-year standoff over Ukraine’s failure to implement the terms of the Minsk agreements, and Russia’s eventual recognition of the Donbass republics in Donetsk and Lugansk. The German- and French-brokered protocols had been designed to regularize the status of those regions within the Ukrainian state.

Russia has now demanded that Ukraine officially declare itself a neutral country that will never join the US-led NATO military bloc. Kiev insists the Russian offensive was completely unprovoked and has denied claims it was planning to retake the two republics by force.

March 21 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia registered 35 new locally-transmitted COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, the lowest daily number for two days in a row since March 6, 2021, raising its total caseload to 468,654, the country's health ministry said on Monday.

Meanwhile, no new deaths were reported in the past day, it said.

Mongolians have basically returned to normal daily life due to high vaccination coverage and declining daily infections. Notably, the Asian country has resumed in-person classes for all levels of educational institutions and fully opened its borders to foreign tourists, who will not be required to have a PCR test or to quarantine.

So far, 66.8 percent of the country's total population of 3.4 million has received two COVID-19 vaccine doses, 1,030,054 people have received a third dose, and 111,944 have received a fourth dose voluntarily.

Australia has imposed an immediate ban on exports of alumina and aluminum ores, including bauxite, to Russia, the government said on Sunday as part of its ongoing sanctions against Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine.

“Russia relies on Australia for nearly 20 percent of its alumina needs,” the Australian government said in a joint statement from several ministries, including the prime minister’s office. It added that the move will limit Russia’s capacity to produce aluminium, which is a critical export for Russia.

“The Government will work closely with exporters and peak bodies that will be affected by the ban to find new and expand existing markets,” the statement said.

Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto owns an 80% stake in Queensland Alumina Ltd (QAL) in a joint venture with Russia’s Rusal International PJSC, the world’s second-largest aluminum producer.

Last week, Australia imposed sanctions on two Russian businessmen with links to its mining industry, one of them being billionaire Oleg Deripaska who holds stakes in QAL.

Australia has so far imposed a total of 476 sanctions on 443 individuals, including businessmen close to Russian President Vladimir Putin, and 33 entities, including most of Russia’s banking sector and all entities responsible for the country’s sovereign debt, the statement said.

The government also said it will donate at least 70,000 tonnes of thermal coal to Ukraine to meet its energy needs.

Australian coal producers have been bombarded with calls for supply over the past few weeks from Ukraine and other countries like Poland that have been reliant on Russian supplies.

“The Australian Government has worked with the Australian coal industry to source supplies,” the statement said.

Whitehaven Coal has quickly arranged a shipment, and the Government is now working with the company and the Ukrainian and Polish Governments to deliver the supplies at the earliest available opportunity, the statement said.

The government also pledged additional military equipment and humanitarian aid for Ukraine.

(By Praveen Menon; Editing by Aurora Ellis)

In February 2022, consumer price index at the national level increased by 1.1 percent from the previous month, by 3.1 percent from the end of the previous year and by 14.2 percent from the same period of the previous year.

The inflation rate was 6.9 percent in February 2019, 6.4 percent in February 2020, 2.6 percent in February 2021 and reached 14.2 percent in February 2022, increased by 11.6 percentage points from the same period of previous year.

The price of 373 items was collected for the consumer goods and services basket at the national level and prices of 344 items collected for goods and services basket in Ulaanbaatar. Out of 373 selected items of goods and services, 200 items were imported goods and services, which accounts for 45.5 percent of the total weight.

In February 2022, 50.7 percent of 14.2 percent inflation rate was mainly contributed by an increase in prices of imported goods and services. The contribution of prices of imported goods and services increased by 16.1 percentage points compared to February 2021 and increased by 3.4 percentage points compared to previous month.

In February 2022, the highest increase in Central region CPI for food items was 17.6 percent, and in CPI for non-food items was 14.7 percent in the Ulaanbaatar city.

According to the National Statistics Office of Mongolia, in the first 2 months of 2022, the gross industry al output reached MNT 2.3 trillion, decreased by MNT 729.2 billion (24.2 percent) from the previous year. This decrease was mainly due to MNT 784.3 billion (36.1 percent) decrease in mining and quarrying gross output.

In addition, the manufacturing production output increased by MNT 31.2 (5.8 percent), electricity, thermal energy and water supply production output increased by MNT 19.7 billion (7.1 percent) and the water supply, and sewerage, waste management, and remediation activities production output rose by MNT 4.3 billion (18.1 percent) from the previous year.

By preliminary results, in the first 2 months of 2022, the mining and quarrying gross output reached MNT 1.4 trillion, dropped by MNT 784.3 billion (36.1 percent) from the same period of previous year. This decrease was mainly due to declines in mining of coal and lignite by 752.2 billion (75.5 percent) and extraction of crude petroleum by MNT 136.5 billion (94.7 percent) from same period of the previous year.

By preliminary results, in the first 2 months of 2022, the mining and quarrying sector, extraction iron ore increased by 74.1 percent compared to the same period of the previous year. In the mining and quarrying sector, the extraction of gold, brown coal, copper concentrate, fluorspar, hard coal and crude oil decreased by 1.4 – 97.2 percent.

In the manufacturing sector, production of copper cathode (99 percent), alcoholic beverage, combed cashmere, lime and cashmere products increased by 0.8 percent to 6.8 times compared to the previous year. In the manufacturing sector, productions of spirit, pure water, soft drink, juice, cigarettes, milk, coal briquette, wheat flour, face covering, meat, sanitizer and cement decreased by 4.0 – 93.6 percent compared to the same period of the previous year.

In the reference period, the sales of industrial output reached MNT 2.9 trillion, decreased by MNT 1.2 trillion (28.9 percent) compared to the same period of the previous year. This decrease mainly resulted from MNT 1.2 trillion (40.2 percent) decrease in sales of mining and quarrying output.

The sales of mining and quarrying output decreased by MNT 1.2 trillion (40.2 percent) compared to the same period of the previous year. This decrease mainly resulted from MNT 835.2 billion (71.7 percent) decrease in sales of mining of coal and lignite output, MNT 224.5 billion (13.1 percent) decrease in sales of metal ores and MNT 36.8 billion (76.1 percent) decrease in sales of other mining and quarrying output, respectively.

Moreover, the total sales of mining and quarrying output was MNT 1.5 trillion, of which, 82.5 percent was metal ores, increased by 24.9 percentage points, while 17.1 percent was coal and lignite, showing a decrease of 18.8 percentage points, and 0.4 percent was other mining and quarrying, decreased by 0.9 percentage points compared to the same period of the previous year.

The World Happiness Report 2022 has been released by the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network. In the report, Mongolia has been ranked 68th out of 146 countries.

In particular, Mongolia was listed at 82nd by GDP, 22nd by access to community services, 104th by healthy lifestyle, at 118th by freedom to make life choices, 27th by generosity and 29th by corruption.

The World Happiness Report looks at the state of global happiness in 156 countries, ranking countries using the Gallup World Poll and factors such as levels of GDP, life expectancy, generosity, social support, freedom and corruption income. The World Happiness Report was originally launched in 2012.

Finland was once again crowned as the world’s happiest country, extending its lead over Denmark and Iceland.

World's happiest 10 countries of 2022:

Finland

Denmark

Iceland

Switzerland

Netherlands

Luxembourg

Sweden

Norway

Israel

New Zealand

In the first 2 months of 2022, Mongolia traded with 123 countries from all over the world, and the total trade turnover reached USD 2.2 billion, of which USD 1.2 billion were exports and USD 1.0 billion were imports.

The total foreign trade turnover decreased by USD 38.9 million (1.7 percent). Exports decreased by USD 154.3 million (11.6 percent), while imports increased by USD 115.4 million (12.5 percent) compared to the same period of the previous year.

In February 2022, exports increased by USD 101.0 million (18.7 percent) while imports dropped by USD 75.4 million (13.5 percent) compared to the previous month.

The foreign trade balance was in surplus of USD 142.5 million in the first 2 months of 2022, decreased by USD 269.7 million compared to the same period of the previous year. In February 2022, trade balance surplus increased by USD 176.3 million from previous month.

Trade with China reached USD 1.2 billion in the first 2 months of 2022, which is accounting 51.9 percent of the total trade turnover.

Bituminous coal and copper concentrates accounted for 35.4 percent and 51.2 percent of total exports to China, respectively, unwrought gold accounted for 99.8 percent of total export to Switzerland. In the first 2 months of 2022, USD 154.3 million decrease in exports from the same period of the previous year was resulted from USD 122.4 million decrease in coal exports.

Exports border price of copper concentrates has been decreased in the last 2 consecutive months and crude petroleum was not been exported.

In the first 2 months of 2022, USD 101.0 million increase in exports from the previous month was mainly due to USD 90.3 million increase in copper concentrates exports.

In the first 2 months of 2022, 34.6 percent of the total imports were from Russia, 27.8 percent -- from China, 8.6 percent -- from Japan, 4.9 percent -- from the Republic of Korea, 2.7 percent -- from USA and 2.6 percent -- from Germany, which are accounting for 81.3 percent of the total imports.

58.7 percent of the total imports from Russia were petroleum products, 6.6 percent -- rebar iron, 2.3 percent -- electrical energy and 2.1 percent -- chemical fertilizers, 73.3 percent of the total imports from Japan were cars, and 8.4 percent of the total imports from China were electricity, 4.6 percent were trucks and 87.0 percent were imports of other products.

Exports of mineral products, natural or cultured stones, precious metal, jewelry and textile articles products made up 94.0 percent of the total export. On the other hand, 64.5 percent of the total imports were mineral products, machinery, equipment and electric appliances, transport vehicle and its spare parts and food products.

Malaysia’s Ministry of International Trade and Industry announced on Friday that the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) has come into force in the country. The free-trade agreement encompasses an estimated 30% of both the world’s population and of its global GDP.

According to the ministry, Malaysia is expected to be the largest beneficiary of the China-backed free-trade deal among Southeast Asian countries in terms of export gains, with a projected $200-million increase.

“For a country like ours which is around 32-million population, we need to look [outwards] in terms of market size and market access,” A.T. Kumararajah of the Federation of Malaysian Business Associations told China Global Television Network. “RCEP really puts our market size in excess of about two and a half billion people.”

The 15-country trade agreement was inked in November 2020 after almost eight arduous years of negotiations. It is the world’s largest free-trade agreement and incorporates the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), plus China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand.

First proposed in 2011, RCEP will, within 20 years, eliminate as much as 90% of the tariffs on imports between its signatories. It will also establish common rules for e-commerce, trade, and intellectual property.

With an area of 1.5 million square kilometers, Mongolia is among the largest countries on Earth, ranking 18th in size. Its vast land encompasses pristine boreal forests, mountainous ecosystems, and several types of grasslands known as steppe. Inhabited by 3.3 million people, Mongolia is also one of most sparsely populated countries in the world, which makes it a good choice for biodiversity conservation.

However, over the past three decades, Mongolia’s environment has been facing multiple threats, including mining and infrastructure development, overgrazing, fossil fuel exploitation, desertification, and climate change that manifests as unprecedented increases in air temperatures and abnormal pattern in precipitation.

Climate change is impacting forage reserves, the composition of plants, and the diversity of the rangelands. Likewise, it has led to a constant increase of natural disasters like drought and dzud, a harsh climatic situation that causes mass death of livestock either due to starvation or extreme cold.

An additional source of pollution is the day-to-day activities of people, and their approach to the environment.

For example it is common to find empty bottle of vodka in the riverbeds that turn dry in the summer. On the hills, there are altars of plastic packages and cans standing next to the real altars erected to pray to the sky god Tenger, a key figure in Mongolian shamanistic beliefs. Outside the villages, in the middle of the steppe, you can find open-air landfills. Just a few kilometers from their houses, the inhabitants of those villages amass the waste they produce during the winter and burn it. In the surroundings, it is possible to see residues of deformed plastic for many months after.

According to a local expert, the root cause of this is the lack of environmental awareness among the Mongolian people. Batsuren S. is a 37-year-old environmental engineer who graduated from one of the top Mongolian universities and completed specialised graduate studies at a famous institute in Southeast Asia, where she now works as a researcher. She asked to keep her last name and the name of her alma mater confidential. She explains:

People in Mongolia don’t realize that their actions have consequences. If they leave a bottle in a meadow, this bottle may reach a river, or be eaten by a yak and cause its death. But people are not educated to think this way. They just say: “I want to have a beer,” or some vodka, or some water. And they drink, then leave the bottle in the grass.

Mongolians are a young people — which means they aren’t fully self-aware, at a social level, and don’t have a deep understanding of how vulnerable nature is, Batsuren claims, linking the issue to a recent change in lifestyle:

People here have been almost exclusively nomads until a few decades ago. They started gathering in cities only recently, and even nowadays, approximately half of the population lives in the traditional nomadic way. In the past, nomads’ trash could be abandoned in nature without worrying too much. It consisted of carcasses of animals, furs, wood, and natural fabric used for clothing. After a few weeks, the environmental agents would consume it and let it return to what it was before without any damage for the soil.

Nowadays, the waste has changed and turned into glass, plastic, metal, gasoline, chemicals. But for people who don’t know the dangers related to them, understating the impact of dumping these products in the nature isn’t as simple.

According to Gala Davaa from the NGO The Nature Conservancy, most of the people are aware about climate change, to a certain degree. Especially the younger generations. As he explains:

A part of the new ruling class of Mongolia is extremely concerned about it. And the herder communities also understand that some change is happening. They observe nature every day, and see that it behaves differently from the past. A lot of information is circulating through the internet. However, the institutions aren’t reaching out to the public in systematic way. And while people do agree on the importance of protecting nature, they still have a limited understanding of the ways to do so.

As he explains, in 1998, the Mongolian government approved a Public Ecological Education Program, to be implemented between 1998 and 2005. But nobody put up a plan to translate it into concrete actions for long-term results, thus the positive but uneven results that were obtained initially are now fading out.

According to Gala:

Between 2019 and 2020, the government designated 32 new protected areas, for a total of 4.9 million hectares. It also committed to put under national protection 30 percent of the country’s total land. They already achieved the result of protecting 21 percent of it, which equals to almost 33 million hectares. On top of this, 31 additional million hectares are now designated as locally protected areas. All this took a lot of effort, yet, because of the absence of an organic program to spread information, many people remain uneducated, even among the scientific community. The country suffers [from] the lack of a science-based nature conservation approach, and the public tends to oversimplify matters related to the environment.

For both Batsuren and Gala, the only way the situation can improve is by changing the mentality of the people. And for this to happen, institutions and the government have to commit to a policy of improved environmental education.

As Batsuren concludes, “they [the government] need to keep launching extensive information campaigns, spread awareness more evenly and systematically, and push people to give more attention to the environment.”