Jack Churchward: Welcome to NoToBeijing2022 Podcast. Today I am proud to have the opportunity to speak with Enghebatu Togochog of the Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Center. In addition to being an author, defender of human rights, he is also a friend. Thank you for joining us today, Enghebatu. Please tell us a little about yourself.

Enghebatu Togochog: Thank you for having me. Yes, as you mentioned, my name is Enghebatu Togochog. I am a Mongolian born in Southern Mongolia which is also known as Inner Mongolia. I grew up there and came to the United States in 1998. In 2001, along with my fellow Southern Mongolians, I established the Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Center in New York. Since then I have been working as the Director of the organization until today.

Jack Churchward: What are the conditions in Southern Mongolia for the Mongolians in their native land?

Enghebatu Togochog: What is happening in Southern Mongolia is a wholesale cultural genocide committed by the government of China. The goal of this round of genocide is clear: wipe out Mongolian language, culture and identity from Southern Mongolia entirely to create a homogeneous Chinese society that is free from any ethnic problem. This ongoing Cultural Genocide has started in Southern Mongolia last September with the implementation of the so-called “Second Generation Bilingual Education” to ban Mongolian language education entirely, and replaced Mongolian with Chinese as the medium of instruction across the region. In response to this, almost the entire Southern Mongolian population has risen up to protest. More than 300,000 Mongolian students took to the streets, and millions of parents, teachers and students carried out a general school boycott; The immediate response of the Chinese Government is, of course as usual, a heavy-handed crackdown. Estimated 8,000 – 10,000 protestors have been arrested, detained and sent to jail; What followed this mass arrest and brutal crackdown is a wholesale cultural genocide in the name of “Inculcation of the Sense of a Chinese Nationality Common Identity”; a region-wide intensive so-called “training” program has started, targeting all Mongolian teachers, students, parents, party members, government officials and even ordinary herders. One of the campaign’s official slogans, is “Learn Chinese and become a civilized person.” These slogans are repeatedly aired through all TV and radio broadcast across Southern Mongolia. In the past few months, the scope of the campaign has been expanded to destroy Mongolian cultural objects, historical places, and removing anything that has Mongolian characteristics from streets and buildings. Theoretical backing of this campaign is the so-called “Second Generation Ethnic Policy” that is publicly stating to wipe out individual ethnic identity of all so-called “55 ethnic minorities”, and impose the so-called “zhong hua nationality common indentity", or Chinese identity. This is what is happening in Southern Mongolia today.

 

Jack Churchward: I just feel I will never be civilized.  

 

Enghebatu Togochog: No, you will never be civilized if you don't learn Chinese and speak Chinese, according to the Chinese Government doctrine.

 

Jack Churchward: Do you think the Chinese Government deserves to host the 2022 Olympics?

 

Enghebatu Togochog: No, not at all. Allowing China to host the Olympics is just like allowing Nazi Germany to host another Olympics. China is committing multiple genocides in front the eyes of the international community; millions of Uyghurs are locked up in concentration camps; the entire Mongolian population in Southern Mongolia are subjected to a massive cultural genocide campaign; the situation in Tibet is very similar to that of Southern Mongolia and East Turkistan; they are denied the right to practice their religion and culture. Not only that. China is cracking down on any dissent, any peaceful protest. Citizens of Hong Kong are denied the right to protest, right to free speech and free press; China is extending her tentacles to the de facto independent nation of Taiwan. China is trying to dominate the world culturally, economically, militarily and politically through infiltration, extortion and other criminal activities for example, Belt and Road Initiatives, Shanghai Cooperation Organizations, Confucious Instititues and so on, you name it. Chinese problem is no longer a problem of occupation and colonization of Southern Mongolia, Tibet, and East Turkistan; it is threat to humanity, it is existential threat to the core value of democracy, human rights and human dignity.

 

Jack Churchward: I mentioned earlier you are an author. Could you tell us a little about your book?

 

Enghebatu Togochog: Sure, my book entitled “Genocide on the Mongolian Steppe” is a translation work. The original version was written in Japanese by Southern Mongolian scholar Professor Oonos Tsogt from Shizuoka University in Japan. The book consists of first-hand personal accounts of Southern Mongolian who had survived the massive genocide the Chinese Government and Chinese settlers committed in Southern Mongolia during the 1960 through 1970s. According to the Chinese official statistics, more than 20,000 Mongolians were killed during this genocide campaign. But, the Mongolians widely believe that at least 100,000 Mongolians were tortured to death and half a million arrested, imprisoned and tortured. This means one third of the Mongolia population was persecuted, just for being Mongolian. 

 

Jack Churchward: That's terrible. Anything else you wish to say? I will give you the last word, sir.

 

Enghebatu Togochog: My message to the people around the world is that it is really a time for us to overcome our religious, cultural, regional, ethnic and political differences to unite together to counter China. If we fail to take immediate actions, the same tragedies will be repeated in countries of BRI, countries of free world including the United States and Europe. 

 

Jack Churchward: Thank you for your words.

 

Enghebatu Togochog: Thank you for having me.