Russia has become China's biggest supplier of oil as the country sold discounted crude to Beijing amid sanctions over the Ukraine war.

Imports of Russian oil rose by 55% from a year earlier to a record level in May, displacing Saudi Arabia as China's biggest provider.

China has ramped up purchases of Russian oil despite demand dampened by Covid curbs and a slowing economy.

In February, China and Russia declared their friendship had "no limits".

And Chinese companies, including state refining giant Sinopec and state-run Zhenhua Oil, have increased their purchases of Russian crude in recent months after being offered heavy discounts as buyers in Europe and the US shunned Russian energy in line with sanctions over its war on Ukraine.

The imports into China, which include supplies pumped through the East Siberia Pacific Ocean pipeline and shipments by sea, totalled nearly 8.42m tonnes last month, according to data from the Chinese General Administration of Customs.

That pushed Saudi Arabia - formerly China's biggest source of crude oil - into second place with 7.82m tonnes.

In March, the US and UK said they would ban Russian oil, while the European Union has been working towards ending its reliance on Russian gas, as the West steps up the economic response to the invasion of Ukraine.

At the time, US President Joe Biden said the move targeted "the main artery of Russia's economy".

Energy exports are a vital source of revenue for Russia but the move is also likely to impact Western consumers.

Last week, a report by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air think tank said Russia earned almost $100bn (£82bn) in revenue from fossil fuel exports in the first 100 days of the country's invasion of Ukraine, despite a fall in exports in May.

The European Union made up 61% of these imports, worth approximately $59bn.

Overall, exports of Russian oil and gas are falling and Moscow's revenue from energy sales has also declined from a peak of well over $1bn a day in March.

But revenues still exceeded the cost of the Ukraine war during the first 100 days - with the CREA estimating that Russia is spending around $876m per day on the invasion.

Monday's figures also showed that China imported 260,000 tonnes of Iranian crude oil last month, its third shipment of Iran oil since last December.

China has continued to buy Iranian oil despite US sanctions on Tehran.

Viewpoint by Joseph Gerson: The writer is President of the Campaign for Peace, Disarmament and Common Security and Vice-President of the International Peace Bureau.

BERLIN (IDN) — We don’t often think in terms of national independence and nuclear disarmament initiatives, but their intersection lies at the heart of Mongolia’s unique single-state nuclear-weapons-free zone.

During Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) meetings at the United Nations, I made the acquaintance of Ukraine’s former ambassador to the United Nations Jargalsaikhan Enksaikhan, and more recently in online meetings of the board of the International Peace Bureau.

Unbeknownst to me until earlier this month, in Mongolia’s early Post-Cold War independence in the 1990s, he was the country’s National Security Advisory, largely responsible for charting the country’s foreign policies.

Enksaikhan, as he is called, is a deeply committed nationalist, inspired in no small way by the courage and cleverness of Chinggis Khan (Genghis Khan as he is known in the West.)

Enksaikhan’s primary concerns are interrelated: preserving Mongolia’s independence from China and Russia and building on Mongolia’s hard-won single-state nuclear-weapons-free status.

Enksaikhan’s invitation to travel to Ulaanbaatar for an international conference to mark the 30th anniversary of his organization, Blue Banner, and its three decades of creative political and diplomatic activities to win and build on the NWFZ status could only be honoured.

I had no expectation of contributing much to thinking about nuclear-weapons-free zones, but solidary is important, and his invitation asked me to give talks about current nuclear weapons issues and what to expect in the future. (See https://cpdcs.org/)

Preparing those talks would be a pleasure. But, amidst the tumultuous and dangerous changes in the increasingly confrontational restructuring of the global disorder triggered by the Ukraine War, I thought the conference would provide an excellent opportunity to learn what people across Asia are thinking.

And, except for a couple of books I’d read about Chinggis Khan, I was more than a little curious to catch glimpses of life in Mongolia, the imagined world of yaks and yurts.

This is not the place to go into Mongolian history. It is a vast and beautiful country, with a population of only three million people, well over half of whom now live in the national capital.

In the countryside, there are certainly yurts, many of which are there for people who escape the city on weekends and in the summer, but the city is chock a block with high-rise housing, skyscrapers in the city centre, and snarled traffic jams that rival those of any nation in the Global South. Mongolia was fated to live in a “rough neighbourhood”, sandwiched between China and Russia.

There is the history of the Mongol empire in the 12th and 13th centuries, but more recently it was harshly ruled by China for more than 200 years. Mongolia won its formal independence following the collapse of the Qing dynasty in China and the establishment of the Chinese Republic at the beginning of the last century.

It had its own revolution in the early 1920s when it joined Russian Bolsheviks in defeating White Russian forces who sought to use Mongolia as a base of counter-revolutionary operations. For years Mongolia served as a buffer between Russia and China, oriented more toward Russia as a defence against Chinese control.

At the height of the Sino-Soviet confrontation in the 1960s, the Soviets deployed troops at bases along Ukraine’s southern border and—worse—deployed nuclear weapons in Mongolia.

With the collapse of the Soviet Union, Mongolia regained true if fragile independence, but it navigates the challenges of a landlocked nation, which is dependent on the two Eurasian powers for trade and access to the wider world. It seeks to balance Beijing and Moscow, in part with good relations with the United States and the European Union.

It is a democratic nation, and its growth from a nation with a per capita income of just over $400 thirty years ago to $4,600 today has depended on foreign investment, much of it Chinese.

Then to some of the lessons, I learned in my much too brief time in Ulaanbaatar.

Of course, there are a number of nuclear-weapons-free zones: in Latin America, Southeast Asia, Africa, and long a campaign to win one in the Middle East. It is one way that non-nuclear weapons states have been able to work for their security and contribute to international nuclear disarmament efforts. Ambassador Enksaikhan and his colleagues began their campaign to win what is a unique single state NWFZ in 1992 in reaction and opposition to the Soviet Union having based nuclear weapons in their homeland. Without going into detail here, after achieving it as a government policy, Mongolia’s leaders laboured cleverly and with a dedication to winning recognition of their nuclear freedom from Russia, China and the United Nations. It has been one way, in addition to Mongolia’s outsized participation in international peacekeeping operations, to assert the country’s independence and to make a mark on the world stage.

Mongolia’s leaders have greater ambitions. Recognizing that they are integrally connected with Northeast Asia and nuclear tensions on the Korean peninsula, Blue Banner works with regional partners to encourage negotiations for a Northeast Asia NWFZ, pressing a 3+3 formula first advocated by scholars in Nagasaki. The two Koreas and Japan in the inner core, reinforced by the nuclear powers China, Russia, and the U.S. In addition, as the world hurtles into unrestrained nuclear arms races, Blue Banner advocates the possibility of creating other single state NWFZ, beginning with Ukraine, Bangladesh, and Pacific Island nations/The United Nations General Assembly and Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty Review Conference, as well as NGO and other forums, provide venues to explore and advance these possibilities.

In something of a first for me, I was invited to brief and hold a discussion with Mongolia’s Institute for Strategic Studies. My presentation was based ion on the speech I had written about the radical transformation of the global disorder, which had been building during the Post-Cold War era and was triggered by Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. The discussion went well, but the aha moment for me came when I asked what Mongolia’s most important national security priority is.

The answer: keeping China’s investment limited to 30% of the total foreign investment. With China’s resurging economic influence in Mongolia, Ulan Bator’s leaders see Russia as the most important balancer. But this response and an aggressive soliloquy by a Chinese scholar during our conference to the effect that economic warfare between China and the U.S. is far more important than their provocative military confrontations caught my attention and illuminated the difference in U.S. and Chinese approaches to the empire.

Her statement triggered a decade-old memory from a conference I organized at the American University. In a workshop on the South China Sea, one of Beijing’s leading maritime scholars repeated pressed by Vietnamese and Filipino students angered by China’s claims to 80% of the South China Sea, including land formations and waters within their territorial waters.

Up against the proverbial wall, the Chinese scholar (and official) responded “It doesn’t matter what you say. In time your nations will be so economically dependent on China that you won’t have a choice. Such has been the history of Western colonialism and not so far from China’s tradition of tributary empire.

Two other details caught my attention. China is reburying the coal it imports from Mongolia. This guarantees China a future supply of energy and future fossil fuel emissions while floating Mongolia’s economy and thus increasing its dependence on Beijing.

The other was that while Chinese and many other nations’ television are broadcast in Mongolia, to keep Ulaanbaatar’s influence out of Chinese inner Mongolia, its broadcasts are blocked. (Also worth noting, the volunteer who chauffeured me knows far more about current U.S. movies—from Black Panther to Star Wars—than I).

One of the privileges and pleasures of participating in an international conference, especially after the years of pandemic isolation, is the opportunity to have spontaneous conversations with very thoughtful and knowledgeable people from other countries. This time I especially enjoyed and benefitted from conversations with Vladimir Ivanov, a Russian think-tank researcher, formerly with the East-West Centre in Moscow, now with the Carnegie Institute there.

He understands his role in facilitating mediation between the two powers, but he also faces possible consequences of the next round of legislation targeted against “foreign agents”. His analysis of the disasters of the Ukraine War, the dangers of escalation, and the need for a ceasefire and negotiations were very close to mine. To make sense of Putin’s miscalculations he remarked on his yes men’s fears of giving the tsar unwanted news.

I queried Vladimir about Putin’s health and who will follow Putin, whenever that time comes. Dr Ivanov confirmed that Putin is ill, how seriously he didn’t know. He saw three possible successor scenarios: 1) Putin could name his successor. It would need to be someone who is not in the immediate ruling circle, as they are all compromised by corruption and wouldn’t be popularly accepted. It will have to be a relatively unknown figure coming from the margins, much like Putin when Yeltsin opened the way for him to become the 21st-century tsar. 2) As in the death of Stalin, Putin could be followed by a collective rule that would last for several years before the first among the equals emerges as the dominant leader. 3) Finally, unlikely but possible, should the Russian elite opt to improve its relations with the West, Navalny could be liberated from his Siberian prison and brought to Moscow to revitalize Russia which is in decline and increasingly depending on China.

We discussed Russian Chinese relations. With their competing histories and interests, Ivanov doesn’t believe Russia and China will consummate a formal alliance. Theirs is a marriage of convenience in the face of the American empire. There is a history of Russian transgressions against China, and portions of Russia—including Vladivostok—were once Chinese.

Not unlike Mongolia, Moscow is grateful for the ways Beijing helps to float the Russian economy with its massive purchases of oil and natural gas (purchases which cannot grow significantly because of limited pipeline capacity). But Russia is a proud nation and will want to limit its dependence on its Asian neighbour.

There are also territorial and migration issues. While they have yet to become major points of friction, Russia’s elite worries about Chinese economic and cultural influence in Siberia and Chinese memories of Russian lands that were once Chinese. (These brought to mind China’s claims, and influence in, the South China Sea.)

Several other telling points from our conversation: Russia’s elite believes that socialists in the United States, committed to redistribution of wealth, will be increasing dependency and a parasitical class through increased government control of economic policy.

Although a student of the United States, he hadn’t understood the goal that slavery had in the writing of the constitution, which today reinforces minority and white supremacist rule. And commenting on the fences that we had seen that corral some of Mongolia’s expansive grasslands, Vladimir remarked that, unlike the Americans, Russians have been building fences around their homes as they increasingly isolate themselves from one another.

Chinggis Khan may have died a thousand years ago (1227 to be exact), but he remains Mongolia’s national hero, the father of his nation admired for his administrative skills as well as for his courage and conquests.

He is very much a source of inspiration for men and women who are determined to defend Mongolia’s independence from both China and Russia and to contribute to the elimination of all nuclear weapons. The commitments and wills of these men and women are rare indeed. [IDN-InDepthNews – 20 June 2021]

ashmere is a cornerstone of luxury fashion, and some of the finest cashmere comes from goats grazing in one of the world’s most remote and challenging landscapes, the Gobi Desert in Mongolia.

Now, a NASA-supported collaboration called the Sustainable Cashmere Project is underway with Mongolian goat herders, the luxury fashion industry, a Mongolian mining company, the Wildlife Conservation Society, and Earth scientists from Stanford University using NASA satellite data. The goal is more sustainable grazing practices, which is particularly important in light of recent changes to the size of goat herds.

Using Earth-observing satellites allowed them to monitor vast expanses of desert in a way traditional field monitoring couldn’t support. They used data from the Landsat mission, a joint NASA/U.S. Geological Survey program, information from the Climate Hazards Group InfraRed Precipitation with Station data (CHIRPS), and other Earth data sets to learn how climate and herd sizes impacted rangeland conditions.

Funding for the project comes from the NASA Applied Sciences’ Ecological Forecasting program area, which supports a variety of grazing and farming work internationally and within the U.S. This work in Mongolia is overseen by associate program manager Cindy Schmidt.

Through Wildlife Conservation Society’s efforts in building trust and relationships with herders, they are able to encourage sustainable practices such as rotational grazing and smaller herd sizes while also compensating herders more for their cashmere wool.

Mike Sh.Enkhiin-Od announced his arrival in Dayton on Wednesday afternoon by sharing a simple photo on Instagram of his new team, the Dayton Flyers, huddled on the practice court at the Cronin Center. Hours later, Dayton’s official social media accounts posted a video announcing Sh.Enkhiin-Od’ arrival at the Dayton International Airport after a trip from his home country, Mongolia.

With Sh.Enkhiin-Od on campus, Dayton has its 12-man roster together for the summer, except for Mustapha Amzil, who’s training with Finland’s national team as it prepares for two FIBA World Cup qualifiers: against Sweden on June 30 and against Croatia on July 3.

A 6-foot-8 point guard, Sh.Enkhiin-Od is one of two newcomers on Dayton’s 2022-23 roster and the only freshman. Georgia transfer Tyrone Baker arrived on campus earlier this month. Sh.Enkhiin-Od first visited UD in September 2020. That’s when he received a scholarship offer from the program. On Nov. 1 last season, he sat behind the bench for an exhibition game against Cedarville. He then committed to Dayton on Dec. 15.

Sh.Enkhiin-Od returned to the Dayton area to play in the Flyin’ to the Hoop event in January and sat behind the UD bench during a game against Davidson on March 5. Sh.Enkhiin-Od finished classes at Andrews Osborne Academy and wrapped up his high school career at the International Sports Academy in Willoughby, Ohio, in May. He then traveled home to Mongolia in mid-May.

Sh.Enkhiin-Od ranked 42nd in the class of 2022, according to On3.com, 95th, according to Rivals.com, and 107th, according to 247Sports.com.

E-bikes and electric scooters are becoming increasingly popular in Mongolia as they are often seen as responsible, eco-minded do-gooders. However, the powered bikes carry a higher risk of severe injuries than traditional bicycles.

The Traffic Police Authority of Mongolia has been reported three road accidents related to electric bikes since January, 2022. Apparently, the accidents were caused by Surron, electronic dirt bike. Surron is “restricted use electric motorcycle” and not a pedal-assisted; however, reckless teens are using it just like a bicycle in city roads.

According to Mongolia law, 18 year-olds who has a class A driver’s licence are allowed to drive motorcycles and other electronic cycles with above 4 kWh.

Mongolians has began importing Surron in 2019. The ebike costs MNT 7-10 million.

‘Mongolia – DFC Business Roundtable’ which aimed to exchange views on economic, investment, and financial cooperation between Mongolia and the United States was held on June 16, 2022.

The virtual meeting was attended by over 30 representatives from more than 10 public and private sectors of Mongolia and the United States.

The U.S. side made presentations on the activities and priorities of its International Development Financial Corporation /DFC/ and EXIM bank. The participants exchanged views on investment and funding opportunities. The parties agreed to continue dialogue on mobilizing the resources and opportunities offered by the U.S. DFC and EXIM Bank to enhance economic cooperation between the two countries.

Source: mfa.gov.mn

The 34th International Co-ordinating Council of the UNESCO Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme taking place in Paris on June 13-17 has approved the designation of Khuvsgul Lake as new Biosphere Reserve to the World Network of Biosphere Reserves.

As a result, the number of Mongolian biosphere reserves designated in the World Network of Biosphere Reserves has reached eight; Great Gobi Biosphere Reserve /designated in 1990/, Bogd Khan Uul Biosphere Reserve /1996/, Uvs Nuur Basin Biosphere Reserve /1997/, Hustai Nuruu Biosphere Reserve /2002/, Dornod Mongol Biosphere Reserve /2005/, Mongol Daguur Biosphere Reserve /2007/ and Toson-Khulstai Biosphere Reserve /2020/ as well as Uvs Lake Depression Transboundary Biosphere Reserve (Mongolia-Russian Federation) designated in 2021.

A status of Biosphere Reserve will increase the international importance of the area and contribute to the conservation and sustainable development of the lake.

SB Energy, a subsidiary of SoftBank Group Corp., and Elixir Energy, an Australian energy business, have signed an MOU to collaborate on the research and development of a green hydrogen generation project in Mongolia’s Gobi Desert.

SB Energy announced in a press release that the construction of this project would represent the company’s first foray into the green hydrogen industry.

SB Energy and Elixir intend to establish a green hydrogen generation project in Mongolia with a capacity of one gigawatt. The Nomgon IX Coal-bed Methane project is located in the South Gobi region of Mongolia and is owned by Elixir. SB Energy runs the 50 MW Tsetsii Wind Farm in the Gobi Desert through a Mongolian-based joint venture.

Ulaanbaatar residents use clean groundwater. The city's population is growing day by day. Due to this, residential areas are expanding and new buildings are being built and accordingly, the management of drinking water is also being improved. On the other hand, water pollution is caused by factors such as improper use, construction, and industrialization. Moreover, there is a risk of further water shortages because Ulaanbaatar residents consume an average of 150 million liters of water per day.

D.Sumiyabazar: Redevelopment of Ulaanbaatar is the way to protect groundwater and solve soil pollution

The Law on Water stipulates that provinces and capital city governors organize activities related to water resources and water use. In order to carry out this work comprehensively, a working group has been set up to work on the redevelopment of Ulaanbaatar. Here is a brief interview with Governor of the Capital City and Mayor of Ulaanbaatar D.Sumiyabazar.

-What measures are being taken to protect Ulaanbaatar city's drinking water resources and prevent water shortages?

-In 2018, former Prime Minister of Mongolia U.Khurelsukh agreed to build a second source of drinking water in Songinokhairkhan district with a grant from the Millennium Challenge Corporation. This work has begun in 2020 and is currently in full swing. With two sources of drinking water, city residents will be able to live without worrying about clean drinking water for 60 years. On the other hand, we need to use clean drinking water very sparingly. Therefore, the capital city authorities need to work on implementing the proper use of gray water and introducing gray water recycling technology.

In order to reduce congestion and decentralize Ulaanbaatar, the policy of gradually moving from a mono-centric city to a multi-centric city is being implemented. Due to this, soil pollution is being arised; therefore, soil pollution should also be considered to protect fresh groundwater. The only way to solve soil pollution is the redevelopment of Ulaanbaatar. With redevelopment, obsolete engineering networks and facilities can be rehabilitated in the medium and long term.

Ts.Turkhuu: Ulaanbaatar drinking water satisfies hygiene and safety requirements completely

Ulaanbaatar residents receive their drinking water from a total of 10 sources. The Water Supply and Sewerage Authority is responsible for delivering water from these sources to the public in a healthy and safe manner. Now in its 63rd year of operation, the organization employs 1,823 people 24 hours a day to provide the city's population with standard drinking water and wastewater disposal. Head of the Water Supply and Sewerage Authority Ts.Turkhuu said:

-Water consumption per person in ger areas is 8-15 liters per day, while in house areas it is 160-200 liters. Because of this big difference, residents need to save water. The Water Supply and Sewerage Authority is working to promote about saving water to teenagers and include them in the study program in cooperation with the Ministry of Education and Science and the Capital City Education Department.

Drinking water is subject to complete laboratory analysis in all transfer processes. About 1,000 samples are taken from more than 300 spots per day and analyzed. The results show that the water we deliver satisfies the drinking water standard.

Water is an important part of our lives, but the following facts show that human beings do not save this vital need.

• 303 liters of water are required to produce one can of beer.

• 300 tons of water are required to produce one ton of steel.

• 9997 or almost 10 thousand liters of water are required to produce one pair of jeans.

• 265 liters of water are required to fill a standard bath once.

• 40-60 liters of water flow after five minutes of showering.

• If all the world's water were stored in a four-liter container, drinking water would be just one teaspoon.

CAPITAL CITY TRAINING, RESEARCH, AND PUBLIC RELATIONS AGENCY

Ukrainian judokas refused to participate in the international Grand Slam tournament in Ulaanbaatar if Russian athletes were allowed to compete in.

The tournament will be held from 24 to 26 June. Earlier it became known that the Russians will take part in it as neutral athletes. The International Judo Federation (IJF) announced its decision to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to the next Grand Slam tournament in Ulaanbaatar. Representatives of the aggressor countries will be able to compete in Mongolia on the terms of neutrality, without using the anthems and flags of their states.

Mikhail Koshlyak, President of the Judo Federation of Ukraine, reacted to the decision of the governing body. According to him, in response to the decision of the IJF, Ukrainian judokas may refuse to participate in international competitions.

A total of 276 judokas from 29 countries will compete in Ulaanbaatar.