China and Mongolian bilateral trade is facing a big impact posed by the sporadic COVID-19 outbreaks in some parts of North China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and the strict but necessary preventative measures on the border. However, with the joint efforts on both sides that are now under close communication, the pressure on the border is expected to ease, possibly lifting bilateral trade volumes to new historic highs, the Mongolian ambassador to China told the Global Times.

Talking to the Global Times on the sidelines of the First BFA Global Economic Development and Security Forum in Changsha, Central China’s Hunan Province, the Mongolian ambassador to China, T.Badral, said on Wednesday that the latest local outbreak in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region has greatly impacted bilateral trade and transportation of goods.

Currently, there are 13 border ports between China and Mongolia, of which six are open for movement of goods and another two are being used for exports of coal and other minerals.

While the two main ports for coal and mineral exports are working as normal, there are rising pressures on border traffic with the implementation of the strict epidemic preventative measures.

The daily number of trucks transporting coal between Mongolia and China is about 500 and it is expected to reach 600. But this is far from enough given the fact that before the COVID-19 pandemic, over 2,000 trucks crossed the border.

Mongolia has around more than 3,000 Mongolian drivers engaged in cross-border transportation of coal. In order to continue with transportation under the existing COVID-19 border restrictions, drivers must take nucleic acid tests twice a day, one in Mongolia and the other in China, Badral said, an indication that cross-border transport has been done under relatively low efficiency.

Despite the challenges, the ambassador said that both sides are now discussing various options to speed up coal transportation such as using self-driving vehicles to prevent infections at the border.

Also, in order to add to the current transport capacity, Mongolia has proposed additional options for coal transportation, including using coal containers in a closed circuit transport to decrease the risk and prevent COVID-19 outbreaks at major border ports of Mongolia and China, as well as helping increase the volume of coal exports to China, T.Badral said.

Moreover, Chinese and Mongolian governments agreed last year to consider opening railway transports at major border points.

Currently, both sides have already reached common ground on building cross-border railways at the Ganqimaodu port in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and a joint declaration is expected to be signed soon before the railway project starts, he said. For the project to be completed around 20 kilometers of railways need to be linked.

This railway is very important for bilateral trade as it is close to the mines and once it starts to operate it is expected to cut down the current transportation costs by three times, Badral said. Transportation operations are expected to open next year.

After the opening of the railway, exports of coking coal from Mongolia to China are expected to increase by 10 to 20 million tons, an increase of 50 percent from the current 32 million tons per year.

While both sides are looking into the possibilities for quicker border traffic under strict epidemic prevention, China and Mongolian bilateral economic and trade ties will be further deepened and consolidated.

The Mongolian ambassador expects the trade flow to reach a $10-billion historic target next year.

In addition to coal, Mongolia is also exporting iron ore to China. Badral expects to increase exports in the future, which will have more possibilities once the transport capacity on the border is upgraded.

The ambassador said that Mongolia is ready to increase the export of food products, such as dairy and meats, as well as wool and cashmere to China as part of its commitment of diversifying its exports to China and beyond.

Source: Global Times

On 22 October. a meeting of the joint working group of Gazprom and the Government of Mongolia on the implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding regarding the project for pipeline gas supplies from Russia to China across Mongolia took place in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.

The meeting was headed by Vitaly Markelov, Deputy Chairman of the Gazprom Management Committee, and S.Amarsaikhan, Deputy Prime Minister of Mongolia. The parties discussed the progress of the feasibility study for the Soyuz Vostok gas pipeline project and heard a briefing on its preliminary results.

It was noted that the Government of Mongolia has already taken a number of measures to provide the project with state support. These include quotas for the hiring of foreign labor by the Gazoprovod Soyuz Vostok special-purpose vehicle, as well as the possibilities of using the regulatory frameworks of Russia and Gazprom during design and construction. In addition, the Mongolian Government has made a decision in principle to reserve land plots for the facilities of the gas pipeline.

Thus far, Mongolian contractors have completed in due time the required on-site surveys, engineering & environmental mapping, and route analysis for the gas pipeline, including its crossing points with the existing utilities.

The meeting participants agreed upon the routing plan proposed by the special-purpose vehicle for use during the development of the feasibility study.

On December 5, 2019, Gazprom and the Government of Mongolia signed a Memorandum of Understanding. The document provides for a joint assessment of the feasibility of the project for pipeline gas supplies from Russia to China across Mongolia.

In April 2021, the feasibility analysis regarding the construction project for the Soyuz Vostok gas trunkline was approved. The Soyuz Vostok gas pipeline will become an extension of Russia’s Power of Siberia 2 gas pipeline in Mongolian territory.

In the course of the feasibility analysis, the basic technical and technological parameters of the project were established. These include the optimal route for the gas pipeline in Mongolian territory, the pipeline’s length and diameter, the working pressure, and the number of compressor stations.

The feasibility study regarding the construction project for the Soyuz Vostok gas trunkline includes a detailed breakdown of the associated investment and operating costs. The study is being prepared by the Gazoprovod Soyuz Vostok special-purpose vehicle.

More than 10 percent of Mongolia’s population has been infected with Covid-19, according to the Health Ministry. Mongolia, with a population of around 3.4 million, registered 1095 new Covid-19cases in the last 24 hours, bringing the national tally to 350,604.

The Central Asian country has reported 6 more deaths of Covid-19 in the past day, marking the first time daily toll fell to single digits since the country’s outbreak worsened in early September. So far, 1,666 Mongolian lost their lives due to coronavirus infections.

The resurgence of the virus has continued due to the highly contagious Delta variant, although more than 70 percent of the population has received two doses of Covid-19 vaccine.

Mongolia reported its first imported Covid-19case in March 2020 and confirmed its first locally transmitted case in November.

Some 400,000 Mongolians have received a booster shot so far. The ministry has said that at least 50 percent of the population needs a booster.

HOHHOT — Erenhot, the largest land port on the China-Mongolia border, has logged 8,000 China-Europe freight trains since the cross-border railway service via this port was launched in 2013, according to the local railway authorities.

The 8,000th train passing through the port has departed from Putian city in East China's Fujian province for Malaszewicze in Poland, carrying export goods of daily necessities.

The port in North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region now serves 53 China-Europe freight train routes. The routes begin in more than 40 cities across China and end in 60 destinations across 10 countries.

As of Oct 19, a total of 2,172 trains have passed through the port this year, up 16.4 percent year-on-year.

The Ministry of Health reported that 1,095 new cases of COVID-19 have been reported in the past 24 hours. Specifically, 808 cases were confirmed in Ulaanbaatar city, with 287 cases in rural regions.

As of today, the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Mongolia stands at 350,604.

Furthermore, six new COVID-19 related deaths have been reported, raising the country’s death toll to 1,593. Currently, 11,592 people are receiving hospital treatment for COVID-19 whilst 10,599 people with mild symptoms of COVID-19 are being isolated at home.

Beijing has been in talks with Moscow on increasing fossil fuel deliveries to China. However, despite Russia’s readiness to cooperate, transportation problems may hinder the efforts, the Russian ambassador to China says.

“The Chinese economy is quite rapidly recovering from the [Covid-19] pandemic crisis [but] there are certain imbalances that no one hides here. And, according to the forecasts that we see in the open press, ahead lies a cold winter; the northeast, which is closer to us, may well face a certain deficit. For this reason, yes, they really ask us to consider the possibility of increasing supplies. We are, of course, ready,” Russian Ambassador to China Andrey Denisov told journalists this week.

“In addition to coal, we [have] a new product that emerged last year – natural gas. Last year we supplied it in a trial mode through the Power of Siberia gas pipeline, bringing the supply to about 5 billion cubic meters. This year we planned to increase it to 10 billion cubic meters, since we cannot bring everything to full capacity yet,” Denisov said. He noted that although the Russian authorities have greenlighted the boost in deliveries, certain issues remain.

“This is not so much a government issue as a question of companies – mining and transporting companies. Certain difficulties we have are not so much in volumes, but in transport capabilities and equipment of border crossings,” he said.

The official explained that there are significant problems in the cross-border road transportation of goods due to the tightening of sanitary and epidemiological controls: Before the pandemic, 120 vehicles at a time were allowed to pass through the border crossings, but now only 40.

Denisov noted that the newly-built Blagoveshchensk-Heihe cross-border road bridge and the railway bridge at the Nizhneleninskoye-Tongjiang border crossing could significantly ease the delivery process. However, neither bridge crossing has been launched yet.

“Both sides – both the Chinese and ours – are now thinking about how to organize the launch of these two bridge crossings. The railway bridge would probably help a lot in the coal business,” Denisov stated.

Authorities of several provinces in China, mainly in the northeast of the country, have been trying since mid-September to cope with interruptions in electricity and heating which have arisen due to shortages and the high cost of coal, as well as rising prices for natural gas. To avoid power outages, 20 provinces in China imposed restrictions on electricity consumption last month, both for industrial enterprises and households. As a result, China has been trying to stabilize the situation by increasing fossil fuel imports. In September alone, the import of coal rose by 76% in annual terms, amounting to 32.88 million tons.

A long line of trucks outside the tiny coal town of Tsagaan Khad has been reduced to a trickle, held up by China and Mongolia’s strict coronavirus measures, leaving the drivers stranded without pay or company. Some 3,500 increasingly wretched drivers have been quarantined in camps of 40 people while they wait.

B.Undrakh told AFP he spent 42 days waiting without making a delivery, having been quarantined outside capital Ulaanbaatar after one member of his group tested positive. After returning to Tsagaan Khad, the 43-year-old faced another 28 days of waiting. On the Chinese side, they are not allowed out of their cabs, or even to open windows.

Drivers are tested for Covid-19 in Mongolia then bussed over the Chinese border in masks and hazmat suits, where they undergo yet another test.

Mongolia’s vast South Gobi province is home to 12 billion tonnes of coal reserves — a key supplier to Chinese iron ore smelters. Last year, Mongolia exported over 35 million tonnes of coking coal to China — this year so far is less than a third of that.

But now many drivers are considering finding other work. There is already a shortage of drivers, with numbers down by around half according to Tsagaan Khad officials, and the impact on the small town has been devastating.

The main street is empty, with canteens and shops closed. Strict virus measures are necessary to keep trade flowing, officials say.

Source: Agence France-Presse

Fifa has been criticised over its handling of complaints of sexual harassment and physical assault in girls’ football after it emerged it had not publicly announced a worldwide ban given to a coach.

B.Uchralsaikhan, a former manager of Mongolia’s under-15 girls’ team, received the sanction from Fifa in August after an investigation by the Mongolian Football Federation found he had sexually harassed and physically assaulted youth team players during the East Asian Football Festival in South Korea in 2019. B.Uchralsaikhan has denied committing “sexual crimes”.

The international players’ union Fifpro has raised concerns, telling the Guardian: “It is not enough to privately ban individuals. In an industry where professionals frequently move clubs and countries, this simply allows perpetrators to take up roles elsewhere. To keep players safe we need a system whereby persons of concern are immediately suspended and a notice of this is publicly available.

“If, after investigation, individuals are banned this must be internationally expanded and recorded. Players, clubs, leagues and federations should be able to access these records to protect themselves and those for whom they are responsible.”

A Fifa spokesperson explained that “given the serious nature of these cases which are often criminal in nature, all sanctions are communicated in the first instance by the respective investigating body”. Fifa added that decisions taken by its independent ethics committee were “communicated at their discretion”.

B.Uchralsaikhan was first suspended from all football-related activities in August 2019 by the Mongolian Football Federation’s disciplinary body, which reported the matter three months later to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).

The AFC told the Guardian that Buuveibaatar’s “sanction was extended worldwide by Fifa in August 2021” but football’s world governing body initially responded to the Guardian’s questions about the case by making no mention of its ban.

It said that “in line with due process” it had referred the case to the AFC after carrying out a preliminary investigation. Later it confirmed the suspension had been extended worldwide after “an investigation and subsequent decision by the AFC disciplinary and ethics committee”.

The allegations against B.Uchralsaikhan came to light in August 2019 when the MFF’s vice-president Kh.Azjargal received a letter from Kawamoto Naoko, the head coach of the under-15 girls’ team, which alleged that B.Uchralsaikhan had sexually harassed and physically assaulted players in South Korea and abused team members during a trip to Japan earlier that year.

B.Uchralsaikhan was sacked a week later by the MFF’s then general secretary, but it is understood he continued to work for the MFF until the end of November. He posted a picture of himself on Facebook with Fifa’s president, Gianni Infantino, who visited Mongolia to mark the MFF’s 60th anniversary on 16 October. The caption said: “The biggest boss of the sector came and I was able to talk to him for five minutes!”

Source: Guardian

Since the beginning of the pandemic, China has faced several unexpected challenges. The trade spat with Australia, the continued South China Sea shipping congestion, and a shortage of coal supply are testing the country’s economic capabilities and problem-solving skills. China has stepped up its efforts to engage Russia, Mongolia, and other third parties to fill their coal shortage.

Exactly a year ago, in October 2020, Chinese state-owned companies were ordered to stop the import of Australian coal, widely viewed as retaliation for Australia’s more critical stance on China. The restrictions on Australian coal naturally pose a new opportunity for other parties in the region, particularly in East Asia and Northeast Asia, to fill China’s coal shortfall.

But apparently it wasn’t enough. In June 2021, Chinese factories began to report power outages and electricity shortages. The Lantou Group’s September 28 report showed the provinces with the most severe power consumption problems to include Xinjiang, Qinghai, Yunnan, Jiangsu, Fujian, Guangxi, and Guangdong, where China’s major manufacturing companies are located.

In September alone, major supplier companies were struggling under power constraints. Pegatron, a company that produces parts for and assembles iPhones for Apple, reported “limiting electricity supply” in their Kunshan City factory. Moreover, the Global Times reported that “A textile factory based in East China’s Jiangsu Province received a notice from local authorities about power cuts on September 21. It will not have power until October 7 or even later.” The following week, on September 27, the national broadcaster CCTV reported that Heilongjiang, China’s northernmost province, will experience an acute power shortage.

China’s central and local governments alike are now actively looking for solutions to the domestic energy shortage before the winter, particularly in its northeastern provinces, which will face freezing temperatures in the coming months.

Amid the energy shortages, Beijing is carefully considering transportation costs and tariffs as the price of coal continues to hike. According to the Global Times, China is currently seeking imports of coal from “Indonesia, Russia, and Mongolia. China’s Zhejiang province had brought in its first shipment of thermal coal from Kazakhstan.” From a supply point of view, Russia, Mongolia, and Indonesia are closer to China than Australia. Local governments based in Northeast China, such as Heilongjiang province, have already chosen to work with the Russians in the past by connecting a local power plant to power transmission from Amur, Russia.

Russia, a major energy exporter, is already playing an integral part for both Mongolia’s and China’s energy sectors. In the past year, Russia’s coal supply to China has grown steadily. In the first half of 2021, Russia exported 24.15 million tons of coal to China, up from just 16.2 million tons in first six months of 2020 – nearly a 50 percent increase.

China’s other northern neighbor, Mongolia, is also a potential solution to its energy crisis. A month after the Chinese ban on Australian coal, Mongolia’s coal exports to China had grown by 17.17 percent. More recently, according to data from Mongolian Customs, “from January to September, Mongolia’s coal exports totaled 11.9 million tons, of which 11.3 million tons was exported to China, accounting for about 95 percent of the total.” However, while China is a major destination for Mongolia’s coal exports, there is still plenty of room for improvement.

The Mongolian Mining Corporation Interim Report of 2021 noted that as of August 2021, “China’s coking coal imports from Mongolia reached 8.3 Mt, representing a 13.7% year-on-year increase.” However, despite the boost China’s total imports of coking coal still fell by a whopping 41.5 percent year-on-year, due largely “to the sharp decline of supply from Australia.” In the first half of 2020, Australia had supplied 24.1 metric tons of coal to China; that’s almost three times what Mongolia was exporting to China in the same period of 2021, even after increasing its supply. Without supply from Australia, China’s coal imports through the first half of 2021 dropped by 22.3 metric tons

The Mongolian Mining Corporation noted that “supply from Mongolia was also disrupted in the second quarter of 2021 after Chinese authorities strengthened preventive measures due to increased COVID-19 cases in Mongolia.” In late August, Gashuunsukhait Border Station, a major transit hub for imports and exports was closed and no coal shipments were going through.

However, the two sides were able to hammer out a solution that seems to be working. On October 20, Mongolian news agency Montsame reported that, since the end of September, Mongolia’s coal exports had jumped 60 percent compared to the preceding three-week period.

On October 12, during an online meeting with Mongolian Prime Minister Oyun-Erdene Luvsannamsrai, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang stated that China “hopes to carry out diversified energy cooperation, and welcomes a larger volume of coal trading between the two countries to achieve win-win results… and ensure a smooth and secure energy supply chain.” Moreover, Mongolian Foreign Minister Battsetseg Batmunkh, told the press during her visit China in July 2021 that the two countries have agreed to boost economic activities, including but limited to expanding Mongolia’s coal exports to China.

Given Mongolia’s abundance of coal and China’s heavy manufacturing industry, Mongolian coal is more than a band-aid solution for China’s domestic energy shortage. As the global coal price continues to hike, steep transportation costs and tariffs are a major dealbreaker for the Chinese, further incentivizing sourcing coal closer to home. As for Mongolia, coal exports – and the mining industry at large – will continue to be the country’s primary source of investment and business. This is an opportunity that cannot be missed, especially considering Mongolia’s slow economic growth and prolonged problematic deal with Rio Tinto.

GUEST AUTHOR

Bolor Lkhaajav is a researcher specializing in Mongolia, China, Russia, Japan, East Asia, and the Americas. She holds an M.A. in Asia-Pacific Studies from the University of San Francisco.

Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia confirmed 1,321 new COVID-19 cases, raising the national tally to 349,509, the country's health ministry said on Sunday.

Meanwhile, 17 more people died from the viral disease in the past day, pushing the death toll to 1,587.

Currently, 18,786 COVID-19 patients are being hospitalized across the country, while 50,010 patients are receiving home-based care due to a shortage of hospital beds and medical staff, according to the ministry