I would like to present a few problems that many of us are faced with. What I am going to discuss today is the human rights situation in the region of China known as Inner Mongolia. I shall first mention some general points about Mongolian History, and then touch on the current policy of destroying the distinct ethnic and cultural identity of the Mongolian people by means of forceful assimilation.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

I would like to start with a brief overview of Mongolian history. In the beginning of the 13th century Chinggis Khan united the Mongol people and established an empire with stretched across Europe and Asia. The history of the Mongols is interrelated with more than 50 countries of Europe, Asia and Africa. Chinggis Khan can be credited with introducing the Mongolia people to civilization. The influence of the Mongolian Empire on world history during the Middle Ages also cannot be ignored.

In 1368 A.D., Mongolians withdrew to their homeland north of the Great Wall and maintained their rule over the vast Mongolian plains. Some four hundred years later, in1758 A.D., the Mongolians fell under the power of the Manchus, a closely related people occupying grasslands to the east.

The year 1911 saw the overthrow of the Manchu Empire by the Chinese national liberation movement. This event brought a new opportunity for all the nationalities that had been under the Manchu colonial rule, including Mongols, Uyghurs, Chinese, Tibet and others. In August of the same year, under the leadership of Handa Dorjey, the Khalkha Mongols expelled all the functionaries of the Manchu government. Three months later, in November, they declared their independence under the name of Mongolia. A year later the Russian government recognized this Mongolian independence and signed an agreement known as the "Russia and Mongolia Agreement." This document expressly forbids the Chinese army from entering Mongolia and the Chinese people from resettling in Mongolia. Under Russian direction, Choy-Balsan, a communist, declared the formation of the Mongolian Peoples Republic. This event, which took place in 1924, marked the establishment of the second socialist nation.

The Chinese Nationalist leader Jiang-Kaixi sent his foreign minister Wang-Shijie to negotiate with the Russian leader Mr. Molotov. This resulted in the agreement known as the "Friendship Treaty of Alliance between Russia and China." This treaty, concluded on August 14, 1945, recognized Mongolia's independence. Mao-Zedong himself went to Moscow and signed this treaty.

Prince Demchug- Donggurub, who was a 31st generation direct descendant of Chinggis Khan, led the independence movement of the southern Mongols. He declared southern Mongolia's independence from China and established a British style constitutional monarchy. Many elements of the traditional Mongolian form of "rule by nobility" were also preserved. In 1950, the Chinese communist army, bringing his independence movement and constitutional monarchy to an end defeated Prince Demchug Donggurub.

CHINESE COMMUNIST DOMINATION

The year 1949 marked the victory of the Chinese communist party and the consolidation of the Peoples Republic of China. From that time until now, about 20 million ethnic Chinese have been resettled in Inner Mongolia. As a result, the native Mongols are now an absolute minority of only 20 percent of the overall population. The current demographic imbalance consists of six Chinese for every one Mongolian. To put this figure in perspective, the Chinese government's own documents show that in 1949 the population ration was five Mongols to every one Chinese.

The Chinese government has been cruelly pushing its colonial totalitarian communist policy in Inner Mongolia. During the past 52 years of rule, They have utilized many forms of political, military, cultural, economic, administrative, and population control to execute its ethnically discriminatory and colonialist policy. It has aimed at completely assimilating the Mongolian nationality and thereby extinguishing the true owners of the Mongolian territory since ancient times.

The 71st rule in- the constitution of the Chinese communist government clearly states that the minority peoples can use their own spoken and written language. However, in 1958 the Chinese communists impose and order prohibiting Mongolians from using their native language. All Mongol students had to learn the Chinese language. Chinese was instituted as the official language of the Mongolian region. In public places, street names, rest rooms, etc. were identified in Chinese names using characters of the Chinese language. This policy continued until 1973, when Mongolians were once again allowed to use their written and spoken language.

All Mongolian leaders who opposed the communist policy of forceful national assimilation were removed. Even today, there is no department of Mongolian culture in Inner Mongolia's main university.

The Chinese government has always been persistent in its hardlined political oppression policies. For all these past years, it has long been suppressing people with different political opinions, blocking news information, as well as fooling the people of the free world. Over the last two years, it has again captured and punished people who hold different political views. It suppressed cultural and political movements organized by various ethnic groups. The whole purpose was to deprive the rights of the Mongolian people. The colonization policy of the communist government is a direct violation of numerous international laws. It has successfully hidden these crimes up to the present day.

The Chinese authorities don't care whether the Mongolian nationality continues to exist or not. They use the name of "Chinese people" as a matter of political principle to replace the name of Mongolian nationality. They show no concern whatever to the consequences of this official form of cultural genocide.

The Chinese communists always think that they brought civilization and progress to the Mongolians, pointing to such examples as the railroads, electricity, civil aviation, schools, hospitals, etc. However, the real purpose of all this so-called "help" is to rob Mongolians of their land and property. Yang-Zengxin, who was a Chinese governor from1912 to 1928, said: "Chinese people take a risk by going to a non-Chinese region. The only reason for doing this is to get a promotion and to make money."

Inner Mongolia is rich in natural resources. Coal and iron are abundant. The land is rich in oil and scarce metals. The Bao Tou steelworks is the second largest factory in the whole country. The output of petroleum is 3.5 million tons per year. The output of coal is about 100 million tons. Every industry and state-run enterprise in Inner Mongolia, no matter what kind-oil, coal, steel, etc.-is controlled by Chinese. Factories are 90 percent staffed by Chinese with only 10 % or less workers who are ethnic minorities. Although Inner Mongolia has rich resources of its own, they are mined by immigrant Chinese and transported to Chinese regions without paying one cent. In the government, schools, and hospitals 90% of the staff are Chinese people. Chinese holds even the cleaning jobs. The Chinese people live in buildings with city water and electricity; but most Mongolian people live in the countryside and in poor conditions. Their houses lack running water and electricity. Their life style resembles that of the Middle Ages.

The Chinese communists claim to be carrying out the principles of Marxism-Leninism, but in fact it is nothing more than a policy of ethnic assimilation. The autocracy of Han nationalism is an innate characteristic of Chinese communists. It is against their nature to permit local autonomy. The official bodies that hold power in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region are the Peoples' Congress, the Chinese Peoples' Political Consultative Conference (C.P.P.C.C.) and the Party Committee system.

If the Mongolian people express any opposition to the Chinese communist policy or voice a different opinion, there are two ways to deal with them: One is to use brutal suppression. During the period of Chinese communist dictatorship, more than 150, 000 Mongolian nationals have been slaughtered. The second way is to delete and change the territory of Mongolia. There are lots of rich lands, which have been occupied by Chinese immigrants. As a result, more and more Mongolians now have begun to express their disapproval to the Chinese government.

In order to defend the Mongolian people's interest, and to be against colonial aggression, I think it is necessary for all of us to recall President Woodrow Wilson's famous "Fourteen Point Declaration" which he issued during World War 1. This document enunciates such principles as the national right to self-determination. If we are able to take this declaration as our standard, then all the problems of Inner Mongolian can be readily solved.

ECOLOGICAL DESTRUCTION

To satisfy the Chinese communist government's greed in relation to the military, the economy and the population, the continuous resettlement of Chinese people into the grasslands of the Mongolian territory has produced severe ecological damage. The easiest way to distinguish one nationality from another is through identifying unique cultural traditions and values. Inner Mongolia is a nomadic region. The Chinese people are largely an agricultural nationality. From the time of their ancestors they have taken roots of trees and grasses as a source of fuel. Because of this, the forests in China are disappearing. The Chinese government encourages their people to migrate to non-Chinese regions in order to open up new areas to cultivation. This policy is producing large-scale soil erosion that will turn the Mongolian grasslands into desert. In addition, many wild animals are being killed and eaten by the Chinese.

Inner Mongolia also has rare metals, which can be used for making nuclear weapons, such as Plutonium, lithium, and uranium. The Chinese have also built a nuclear base in the region. These developments have led to very great danger of atomic pollution. Since the Chinese exploded their first atomic bomb in 1964, nuclear fallout has been a constant threat to the people of Inner Mongolia. Trees wither, the grasslands are becoming desert, and the people are contracting strange diseases. There are many new cases of people with tricfiomacleses; young girls come down with butterfly brown speckle; and the incidence of strange endocrinopathy, blood cancer, etc. has grown to alarming levels. The list of such illnesses is too numerous to mention them all here.

Every time there is a nuclear explosion, people are typically notified by radio on the second day after the detonation has occurred. Sometimes notifications do not come for several months. Even the Japanese, who live far from the detonation sites, have protested against the Chinese government's nuclear experiments. They are worried about environmental pollution in their land, because of the nuclear fallout that is carried there by the wind.

The Mongolian people, however, who live very near the tests sites, must silently endure much more serious levels of atomic pollution. It is sad that these thousands of Mongolian people do not even have the right to protest against this very real threat to their health. They are also not permitted to move to a safer area.

The Chinese communists have built a site for disposal of nuclear waste in Inner Mongolia. In July of 1987 four thousand tons of nuclear waste were transported here from West Germany and buried. When the Mongolian people tried to protest against this situation, Mr. Chai Ying, the military commander of the Inner Mongolia region quickly dispatched troops to suppress all acts of dissent.

DENIAL OF RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

Most Mongolian people are Buddhist. Some believe in Christianity. But the Chinese communists do not permit anyone to practice religion freely. Chairman Mao said: "National struggle, after all, is a problem of class struggle." So the Chinese communists replaced the Mongolian faithful with atheists who follow the class struggle viewpoint. The Chinese destroyed temples and killed or imprisoned monks. All religious activities were strictly forbidden. I know a Mongolian lama, Venerable Younden Jiamcho, who lives in Howell, New Jersey. He is now 83 years old. He told me about his temple in Mongolia. One night Chinese communist soldiers surrounded the temple. They gathered all the lamas outside the temple and then shot them with guns. This lama somehow managed to escape. 2,400 temples were destroyed in this brutal manner.

Later on, the Chinese communists also persecuted the Mongolian Jay people who believed in Buddhism. The authorities claimed that these Mongolians wanted to over turn the Marxist-Leninist system by means of their Buddhist religious doctrine. Mongolian Buddhist are a peaceful group. They never mistreat people. However, it is inevitable that Chinese communists who follow a philosophy that values struggle and conflict will attack the Mongolian people who believe in Buddhism.

Ladies and gentlemen, it has been a great pleasure for me to have the opportunity to exchange my views with you here today. Before closing my talk, I want to thank you for your kind attention. Thank you!

Second Panel:"Exposing Chinese Government Propaganda"