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Update: March 06, 2022 03:16 STI

Ulaanbaatar [Mongolia]March 6 (ANI): The recent arrest of a prominent anti-A Chinese activist in Mongolia asked whether the Chinese border region is heading towards Tibet.
Mongolia, a landlocked country in East Asia, depends on mineral exports to its neighbors China and Russia. Protests are commonplace in Ulaanbaatar against Beijing’s language policy in Inner Mongolia.
Critics of the policy say it mirrors movements in other regions such as Xinjiang and Tibet to assimilate local minorities into the dominant Han culture and eradicate minority languages.
Munkhbayar Chuluundorj, a human rights activist who advocates freedom for the region, was arrested last month in the capital Ulaanbaatar on suspicion of “receiving instructions and funds from a foreign intelligence group”.
The General Intelligence Agency (GIA), the country’s spy agency, said Munkhbayar had “engaged in illegal cooperative activities”.
According to Tibet Press, authorities had filed the charge without disclosing further details of the case.

Critics argue that Munkhbayar’s criticism of Chinese rule in Mongolia provoked contempt from the government which placed him under surveillance by the authorities.
Supporters suspect the arrest is part of a clean-up campaign by China to eradicate Chinese critics in Mongolia.
In the recent past, Chinese authorities have intensified their crackdown in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region against ethnic Mongolians who stage protests against measures to reduce education in their native language.
Munkhbayar had strongly criticized policies that violated the democratic rights of ethnic minorities.
He even led various meetings, conferences and organized movements against the human rights violations of China in Mongolia.
Munkhbayar had also demanded the resignation of Mongolian Prime Minister Luvsannamsrain Oyun-Erdene for his close relations with China.
His arrest sparked outrage and several activists claimed it was a plan instructed by Beijing. (ANI)