Ethnic Mongolians in Tokyo hold anti-China protests for imposing language policy

In a strong protest against China’s move to forcibly push Mandarin-language education in Inner Mongolia, an autonomous region in northern China, ethnic Mongolians living in Japan stood outside the Chinese Embassy in Tokyo.

The move by China has angered many as they saw it as a move to erase their culture.

Some 15-20 people joined the protest in front of the embassy to raise their concern.

In Inner Mongolia, protests are underway after China imposed its new policy aimed at pushing Mandarian language education across the region sparked widespread unrest among the country’s ethnic Mongols.

Thousands of students in Inner Mongolia have taken to streets to rally against Beijing’s three-year plan to push Mandarin language education across the northern region and phase out local history, literature, and ethnic textbooks in favour of national course books.

According to the local media reports, parents are also refusing to send their children to school in defiance of the new policy.

Activists say that under President Xi Jinping, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has intensified to promote Mandarin and push the country’s ethnic minorities to adopt a uniform Chinese identity.

The latest move to roll out Mandarin language instruction has raised fears that it could be the end for a minority language already at risk of fading away.