Japanese company slammed over Mongolia grassland fire

A Japanese company's subsidiary faces growing public criticism and legal consequences after its executives were believed to have triggered a massive fire in Mongolia that scorched an area more than twice the size of Tokyo near the Chinese border.

The fire was first reported on Oct 8 in the core zone of Numrug Strictly Protected Area, one of Mongolia's best-preserved natural reserves for rare wildlife and endemic plant species. The area prohibits unauthorized entry, particularly during the autumn fire-risk season.

The fire burned 528,765.5 hectares of land, according to Xinhua News Agency, citing local media reports and Mongolia's Ministry of Environment and Climate Change.

Some 468,965.7 hectares of the fire-affected area — 80 percent of the entire reserve — fell within the strictly protected area.

Initial investigations suggest vehicles carrying executives from Mobicom, a Mongolian telecom operator majority-owned by Japanese telecom giant KDDI, sparked the fire.

After a 13-member convoy of five vehicles drove into the restricted area, dry grass beneath one vehicle caught fire which quickly spread across the grasslands.

KDDI told Kyodo News on Tuesday that Japanese executives of its Mobicom subsidiary had been inside the nature reserve.

The company said it took the significant environmental damage caused by the fire linked to Mobicom's activities "extremely seriously".

Japan's All-Nippon News Network reported on Thursday that KDDI said the group had notified border security authorities in advance and followed a designated route.

The company said the visit was intended for fourth-generation mobile network testing, but declined to comment further pending the outcome of an investigation by local authorities.

Mongolian government officials and local media questioned the explanation.

Eguur News, a Mongolian digital news outlet, said the convoy may have entered the area on an unauthorized hunting and fishing trip, involving critically endangered species.

Mongolia's Minister of Justice and Internal Affairs Temuulen Ganzorig said those involved, along with personnel from relevant border-port administrations, would be held accountable and ordered to compensate for the losses.

Social media ire

After Mongolian media reported the fire, some Japanese social media users questioned the lack of coverage by mainstream media outlets on Oct 18 and 19.

Major Japanese news organizations largely began reporting on the incident from Tuesday.

Yasumasa Shimizu, chairman of Shanghai-based environmental technology company STECO, criticized Japanese mainstream media for their lack of coverage.

In a post on X, he questioned why Japanese media had largely ignored the massive fire involving a Japanese company.

"If a subsidiary of a major Chinese telecommunications company had been involved in a similar incident in Mongolia, Japanese television programs and news outlets would probably have covered it extensively from morning to night for days," he wrote.

Some Japanese netizens on social media said the government should apologize to Mongolia and support environmental restoration.

"It is not something you can just apologize for and be done with," one netizen wrote on X. "Money will not bring the plants back."

In the Eguur News comments section, Mongolian netizens expressed anger over the incident and demanded that those involved bear responsibility and the cost of the fire.

Mongolia activated a multiprovincial emergency response to contain the blaze, calling in 606 rescuers and 100 equipment units from 60 firefighting teams across three provinces. The fire was fully extinguished on the morning of Oct 16.

At one time, the grassland fire spread toward the China-Mongolia border, prompting China to deploy more than 3,400 rescue personnel to battle the fire along a border stretching hundreds of kilometers.

The fire was effectively brought under control outside the border on Oct 13.

Mongolia has thanked China for its rapid emergency response and praised Chinese company employees in Mongolia who volunteered to assist with firefighting efforts.

Xinhua contributed to this story.

Contact the writers at kelly@chinadailyapac.com