Germany's states make face masks compulsory www.bbc.com

Additional loan agreement with China enters into force www.montsame.mn

Beijing /MONTSAME/ On April 20, Ambassador of Mongolia to the People’s Republic of China D.Gankhuyag received Xiu Zhi and Ta Na, managers at Credit Management Department of Export-Import Bank of China and Wang Haitao, Director of China Railway Fourth Bureau LLC Branch in Mongolia, a contractor of construction project of the new wastewater treatment plant of Ulaanbaatar city.

The world after covid-19 www.economist.com

The West’s incompetent response to the pandemic will hasten the power-shift to the east

HISTORY HAS turned a corner. The era of Western domination is ending. The resurgence of Asia in world affairs and the global economy, which was happening before the emergence of covid-19, will be cemented in a new world order after the crisis. The deference to Western societies, which was the norm in the 19th and 20th centuries, will be replaced by a growing respect and admiration for East Asian ones. The pandemic could thus mark the start of the Asian century.

The crisis highlights the contrast between the competent responses of East Asian governments (notably China, South Korea and Singapore) and the incompetent responses of Western governments (such as Italy, Spain, France, Britain and America). The far lower death rates suffered by East Asian countries is a lesson to all. They reflect not just medical capabilities, but also the quality of governance and the cultural confidence of their societies.

What has shocked many in Asia is the reluctance of some Western governments to allow science—and basic epidemiological modeling—to determine the policy responses. After its initial missteps in Wuhan (which were clearly disastrous), China firmly deployed good science and robust public policy measures to break the back of the problem. It responsibly released the genetic data as soon as Chinese scientists sequenced the genome of the virus on January 12th.

A half century ago, had a similar global pandemic broken out, the West would have handled it well and the developing countries of East Asia would have suffered. Today the quality of governance in East Asia sets the global standard. The leaders who turned their countries around, such as Deng Xiaoping in China and Lee Kuan Yew in Singapore, planted the seeds of knowledge, internationalism and order in their societies. These have blossomed into a respect for science and technology, a culture of pragmatism, a willingness to learn best practices from around the world and a desire to catch up with the West. These went along with deep investments in critical public goods such as education, health care and the environment.

The result is that the post-covid-19 world will be one in which other countries look to East Asia as a role model, not only for how to handle a pandemic but how to govern more generally.

Ever since Ronald Reagan declared, “Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem,” in his inaugural address in 1981, there has been a progressive delegitimisation and consequently, demoralisation, of public services in America. President Donald Trump didn’t create this problem. He aggravated it. The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta was one of the most globally-respected agencies. Yet Mr Trump proposed to cut the CDC’s budget even after covid-19 emerged. The world gasped in horror.

By contrast, East Asian societies have believed in the wise insight of Amartya Sen, a Nobel laureate in economics, that for societies to succeed they need the invisible hand of free markets and the visible hand of good governance. China now arguably has the most meritocratic government in the world. The post-covid-19 world will see China accelerate both for the public’s benefit—and the balance of strong markets and good governance will be an appealing model for other countries.

China was a feudal society for thousands of years and the brains of the vast majority at the bottom of society were never used. Given the tribulations it suffered in its “century of humiliation” from the mid 19th and 20th centuries, China understands well the dangers of a weak government. And because the Chinese psyche fears chaos more than any other force, the people welcome a strong state. The public’s trust in its leaders has been enhanced by the successful response to covid-19.

Clearly there are sharp differences between the communist system of China and the societies of South Korea, Japan, Taiwan and Singapore. Yet one feature they share in common is a belief in strong government institutions run by the best and the brightest. This emphasis on meritocracy also has deep roots in Confucian culture. The entry bar to the Chinese Communist Party is set very high: only the top graduating students are admitted. Equally importantly, the rising levels of competent governance is both fuelled by, and contributes to, rising levels of cultural confidence. All this is gradually eroding the natural deference to the West that used to be the norm in Asia.

Taken together, the competence and confidence of East Asia will reshape the world order. It has already begun. Twenty years ago, no Chinese national ran any United Nations organisation. Today they oversee four: the Food and Agriculture Organization, the International Telecommunication Union, the UN Industrial Development Organisation and the International Civil Aviation Organisation. If the International Monetary Fund and World Bank remain bastions of Western power, insisting that only Europeans and Americans can run the shop, they will progressively lose their credibility unless they allow Asians (as well as Africans and Latin Americans) to manage them. Failure to adapt hurts any organism—including international organisations.

The rules-based global order was a gift by the West to the world after the second world war. Will China overturn it when it becomes the world’s undisputed economic power, as it eventually will? Here is the good news. As the current, biggest beneficiary of this order (since China is already the world’s largest trading power), the country will preserve the rules. However China will systematically try to reduce American influence in international organisations. In early 2020 China put up a candidate to run the World Intellectual Property Organisation. America campaigned ferociously against her. In the end, a neutral candidate from Singapore won. This provides a foretaste of fractious battles to come.

Even Europeans are becoming disenchanted with an American-led world order. Few will forget that in the same week that the Trump administration banned travel from Europe (without any advance notice), the Chinese government sent medical equipment including masks, ventilators, protective suits and doctors to Italy and Spain. This is why the Group of Seven countries resisted pressure by America to call covid-19 the “Wuhan virus” in a communique after a virtual meeting in March.

However, this does not mean the world will shift to a solely China-led order. Countries do not want to be forced to choose between China and America, as I document in my latest book, “Has China Won?” (Public Affairs, 2020). There will still be concerns over China’s rise, especially among its neighbours. No one feels comfortable sharing a small room with an elephant, no matter how benign.

Most would welcome a continuing American presence to balance China’s influence. Yet they wish to see a competent and careful American presence, not one that forces them to choose between the two systems—as if America’s “with us or against us” ethos were the only options.

To maintain its role and its respect, America will have to demonstrate remarkable diplomatic dexterity. Yet its foreign service has never been more demoralised; the Chinese one never more confident. Fortunately, all is not lost for America. In South-East Asia, for example, there remain huge reservoirs of goodwill after many years of American engagement in the region, which its diplomats can tap.

As China’s weight in global affairs grows, it will have to take on greater responsibilities. America has progressively walked away from the family of United Nations institutions. China has not, and may use its new confidence to take on a larger role. For example, before the pandemic the World Health Organisation (WHO) had been weakened by an effort led by the West, starting in the 1970s, to reduce the share of funding that member states are obliged to pay and make the majority of its budget come from voluntary contributions. Today, some 80% of WHO’s budget is voluntary. China could demonstrate global leadership by calling for a charge to restore the mandatory funding to its earlier level of around 60%, since WHO can only develop long-term capabilities on the basis of predictable, compulsory contributions.

But that may just be a start. The world after the crisis may see a hobbled West and a bolder China. We can expect that China will use its power. Paradoxically, a China-led order could turn out to be a more “democratic” order. China doesn’t want to export its model. It can live with a diverse multi-polar world. The coming Asian century need not be uncomfortable for the West or the rest of the world.
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Kishore Mahbubani is a former Singaporean diplomat and Founding Dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, NUS from 2004 to 2017. He is currently a distinguished fellow at the Asia Research Institute, NUS and the author of numerous books on Asia and the West, most recently “Has China Won?”. This article is part of a series from outside contributors on the world after covid-19. More can be found at economist.com/coronavirus

Major miners braced to weather coronavirus, but cash-poor minnows in peril www.reuters.com

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Major miners are better positioned to weather the coronavirus disruption compared with previous downturns, having drastically reined in debt-fueled buying and operating costs amid investor scrutiny and pressure.

But smaller players could find themselves adrift as capital dries up. The International Monetary Fund predicted the coronavirus pandemic could cause the steepest downturn since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

An exception will be companies that have already secured tie-ups with majors on development projects, in arrangements that see investment step up if richer veins are found, according to interviews with a dozen industry executives, investors and analysts.

But that is just a tiny fraction of the junior market.

“By and large, mining companies now are a lot more robust than they were. Massive amounts of debt have been retired, massive amounts of cash have been returned to shareholders,” said Justin Mannolini, a partner at Gilbert and Tobin in Perth.

Majors have been repaying shareholders since last decade’s disastrous the top-of-the-cycle buys, such as Rio Tinto’s debt-fuelled $38 million purchase of Alcan in 2007, a quarter of which it wrote off five years later.

Gold miners are well placed to weather the downturn, given the commodity’s appeal as a safe haven.

But miners of energy and battery materials will struggle, and some base metals producers may find it increasingly hard to find financing, said James Eginton, senior investment analyst at Tribeca Global Natural Resources Fund in Sydney.

“You arguably will see the industry have to almost support exploration projects rather than equity investors, if the equity markets come under more pressure,” he said.

This could come via equity stakes, such as those BHP (BHP.AX) and Newcrest (NCM.AX) have taken with Ecuador developer Solgold SOL.G or in joint ventures around particular assets.

“History shows that in times like these, having a strong partner on your register or at project level through a joint venture is key,” Mannolini said.

“If you’re on your own, you’re in serious trouble because the market will be closed to most juniors for potentially a very long time,” he added, estimating that could stretch until 2022.

Relative to the 2008 downturn, Australian gold explorer Encounter Resources (ENR.AX) is in a much stronger position, with partners that can offer some income from equity injections, project generation fees and management fees, managing director Will Robinson told Reuters.

Encounter has tie-ups with Newcrest (NCM.AX) and mid-tier nickel producer IGO (IGO.AX). Robinson said the income helps with cost and reduces their cash burn “while minimising demand on calling on (shareholders) for money.”

Juniors with decent projects may find themselves in the spotlight for larger firms who see opportunities.

Africa-focused explorer IronRidge Resources (IRR.L), which is seeking investment from a gold company, has seen growing interest from bigger miners since the coronavirus shutdowns began, said managing director Vincent Mascolo. He declined to provide names because talks were confidential.

The junior exploration firm has lithium, iron ore, bauxite and gold projects across Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Chad, Gabon and Australia. Ironridge plans to monetise, divest from, or convert to a joint venture its lithium project by the end of 2020.

“Anyone that tells you it’s not a difficult time is lying,” Mascolo told Reuters. “Everyone is budget conscious. ... We’re not producing, we’re still paying wages, we’re not retrenching anyone through this challenging time.”

But as the majors’ business-development teams and geologists have to work from home, they are focusing on finding new projects, he said

“What we’re looking for now is new blood from a top co-investment,” he said. “We would ideally be looking at a gold producer.”

For some, these tie-up opportunities may come at a cost.Nevada Copper Corp (NCU.TO) last December opened the first U.S. copper mine since the late 1970s, then mothballed it this month because of the coronavirus. The company worked out a deal with Germany’s KfW IPEX-Bank to delay about $12 million in debt payments. But even with that move, share price losses have triggered a debt-to-equity conversion from its largest shareholder, Pala Investments, which will give Pala a greater than 50 percent stake in the firm.

Reporting by Melanie Burton in Melbourne, Helen Reid in Johannesburg, Zandi Shabalala in London and Ernest

Thesis defense, final and graduate exams to be organized online within June 20 www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ On April 21, Minister of Education, Culture, Science and Sports Yo.Baatarbileg presented about the government and the education ministry’s decision concerning all educational institutions. On April 20, the Education Minister issued an order to reconfigure the operations of universities and colleges as follow:

New renewable energy plant in western Mongolia www.news.mn

A new combined solar photovoltaic (PV) and wind power plant is under construction in the Altai Soum of Gobi-Altai Province. The 450kW solar PV and 200kW wind hybrid plant is expected to begin operation later this year. The construction of the plant has been financed with Asian Development Bank (ADB) funding worth USD 92 thousand.

Russian Urals crude sinks below $12 amid epic oil market meltdown www.rt.com

The unprecedented oil market crash this week has put Russian crude under pressure, with the Urals blend falling by almost $6 to trade below $12 per barrel, according to energy information provider Argus Media.
The Russian oil benchmark, the price of which is determined by Brent crude, was trading lower only on April 2, when it dropped to $10.54 per barrel (CIF Rotterdam). That was the weakest level since March 1999. Urals had almost doubled in price a week later, on reports of OPEC+ negotiations.

Green Belt Project - Symbol of Friendship between Mongolia and the Republic of Korea www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ On November 22, 2019, during a parliament session, it was warned that 76.8 percent of Mongolia’s territory has become subject to desertification and land degradation. Later, on February 20, 2019, a technical meeting to develop a global sand and dust storm source base map talked about how the yellow dust storm caused by desertification and land degradation is posing a challenge to not only Mongolia and Asia, but the entire world and producing diverse impacts on human health.

A Mongolia-ROK joint project, ‘Green Belt’, has been running for 14 years to mitigate desertification in Mongolia and combat yellow dust storms. Specifically, Mongolia and ROK made high level talks to implement a forestation project for the prevention of yellow dust storm and desertification in 2005, and the Mongolian Ministry of Environment and Tourism established a Memorandum of Cooperation with the Korea Forest Service in 2006. As a result of the project, tree nurseries have been set up in 45 hectares of lands in Dalanzadgad soum of Umnugobi aimag and Bayanzag Flaming Cliffs site in the aimag’s Bulgan soum and Lun soum of Tuv aimag with USD 11.8 million assistance from ROK and 3,046 hectares of forests have been planted.

20 types of anti-desertification trees such as poplar, tamarisk, willow, elm, Prunus sibirica, and Prunus amygdalus, that were planted in the abovementioned three soums, where yellow dust storms might emerge from, are now growing smoothly. Mongolia has been taking over the management of the forested areas in phases. Since 2017, a total of around 2,200 hectares of lands have been transferred to the Mongolian side. The remaining 821 hectares of lands will be transferred this year together with funds and equipment necessary for upkeeping the forested areas. This will open up an opportunity for the Government of Mongolia to preserve the forests and plant more trees, said project director Seong In-kyeong. Showing that there is a great opportunity to plant trees in the areas affected by desertification and further grow forests was an outstanding success. Mr. Seong Inkyeong also emphasized his hope that many citizens and politicians will get inspirations from the project and protect the nature by planting trees.

Even though the project had originally wrapped up in 2016, governments of the two countries agreed to continue with it and held another high-level talks on May 18, 2016, and a memorandum of understanding was signed on July 17 of the same year to collaborate in the fight against desertification and yellow dust storms. Accordingly, it was decided to implement the project’s second phase from 2017 to 2022 and works began to build an urban forest called ‘Mongolia-ROK friendship park’ in a 40 hectares of land located in the 16th subdistrict of Sukhbaatar district. The ongoing second phase targets reduction of air pollution in the capital city, while the goal of the first phase was to prevent yellow dust storms. The project worth USD 9 million is currently 50.8 percent complete. The project director highlighted that people will get to know everything about forests such as benefits, plantation, and maintenance of trees by visiting the urban forest, while they would only take a rest and picnic in regular parks.

The urban forest will have 90 types of trees and other plants besides having a learning garden, bike path, playground, sports ground, and a parking lot for around 100 cars. Currently, the construction of basketball court is running at 83 percent, observation tower – 79 percent, parking lot – 79 percent, fences – 94 percent, flower-shaped railings - 33 percent, levee – 98 percent, pond – 99 percent, and information center - 24 percent, and the park’s tree nursery has been fully constructed. The most important part of the project, tree planting, is beginning this year. A single tree has an annual fine dust reduction effect of 35.7 grams and an acre of moderately mature trees absorbs 2.5 tons of carbon dioxide per year. It is therefore expected that the project will concretely contribute to reducing air pollution in the capital city.

During his March 2019 visit to Mongolia, former ROK Prime Minister Lee Nak-yeon got acquainted with the construction works and planted a tree. About this, project director Seong In-kyeong said, “During his visit, Prime Minister Lee Nak-yeon gave us an idea for fruitful continuation of the project. So we are now studying whether to implement the project’s third phase.”

The project team is confident that the Green Belt project that has been making concrete contributions to preventing and fighting desertification and yellow dust storms in Mongolia and reducing air pollution in Ulaanbaatar city will become a symbol of friendship between Mongolia and the Republic of Korea.

Mongolia ranks 73rd in World Press Freedom Index www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ The 2020 World Press Freedom Index compiled by Reporters Without Borders was released on April 21. The annual report on press freedom of 180 countries reflects the growing animosity toward journalists.

Traffic movement in and out of Ulaanbaatar, Selenge and Darkhan-Uul suspended until April 25 www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/. The State Emergency Commission convened a meeting on the evening of April 21, concerning the newest COVID-19 case in Mongolia, which was announced today to have detected in a driver of freight vehicle, who had traveled to Europe via Russia before arriving in Mongolia on April 18. When tested positive for the coronavirus, the patient was staying under precautionary and mandatory isolation in Selenge aimag and was brought to Ulaanbaatar today.