Southern (Inner) Mongolian exiles and members of the Liberal Union Party of Mongolia (LUPM), a Japan based group whose goal is to fight for the independence of Southern Mongolia and the unification of fragmented historical Mongolia proper, held a demonstration in Tokyo, Japan, on July 5, 2008, to protest against China’s heavy-handed ethnic policy in the region.

Joined by the supporters and members of Tibetan, Uyghur, and Taiwanese rights groups, the demonstrators shouted the slogans of “Free Southern Mongolia”, “Free Tibet”, “Free East Turkistan” and “Free Taiwan”, and held high banners of “Free Hada Now!”, “Freedom for Southern Mongolia”, “Stop Violating Human Rights!” and the flag of LUPM.

Mr. Dashdongrov, member of LUPM and one of the organizers of the demonstration, gave a speech to the crowd in flawless Japanese, criticizing China’s population transfer policy which not only did make the Mongols an absolute minority on their own land but also has brought a vital destruction to the Southern Mongolian grassland ecosystem and the traditional Mongolian way of life that had been maintained almost intact up until 1947 when the Chinese Communist Party took control over the region. Dashdongrov also condemned China’s deteriorating human rights situation in Southern Mongolia, stating that the Chinese authorities have deprived the Mongols of their right to use their native language and right to education.

Japan, home to the largest Southern Mongolian community abroad, has almost shown no interest in supporting the Southern Mongolian independence movement since its defeat in World War II. However, various signs indicate that this has been slightly changed as the Southern Mongolian exiles mostly led by the Inner Mongolian People’s Party, another exiled group aiming at the independence of Southern Mongolia, have increasingly active in Japan in recent years.