China vowed Tuesday to act to address problems that have sparked protests by ethnic Mongols while also warning of unspecified "overseas" forces fanning the unrest in Inner Mongolia.

The vast region has seen a wave of demonstrations over the past week, sparked by the killing of a protesting Mongol herder and fuelled by resentment over Chinese rule and rapid exploitation of the area's rich natural resources.

Foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said "local authorities will respond positively and will also try to protect the local environment and handle the issues between economic development and environmental protection."

Her comment at a regular press briefing was the latest in a series of statements by the government and state media aimed at tamping down Mongol anger by acknowledging their grievances.

That anger boiled over last week following the May 10 killing of the herder, who was run over by a coal truck driven by a member of China's dominant Han ethnic group as he and others sought to block a convoy of vehicles.

Despite a heavy security crackdown across Inner Mongolia, hundreds of Mongols demonstrated again on Monday in the regional capital Hohhot, the US-based Southern Mongolian Human Rights Information Center said.

The protesters were dispersed after about an hour by riot police who arrested dozens, it said, quoting its sources in the city.

AFP could not immediately confirm the report with residents there. Calls to local police went unanswered.

Residents in flashpoint areas in the Xilingol league to the north, the area on the Mongolian steppe where the herder died, told AFP by phone the situation was calm there on Tuesday. A league is akin to a Chinese prefecture.

Jiang issued a warning to overseas groups "who are stirring up trouble".

"As for some people overseas who try to play up the issue and realise their ulterior motives, their attempts are doomed to failure," she said, declining to elaborate.

China, which is loathe to admit any dissent by its many ethnic minorities, made similar vague accusations about "hostile" overseas forces amid deadly ethnic unrest in 2008 in Tibet and in 2009 in traditionally Muslim Xinjiang.

The English-language Global Times, a tabloid with links to the ruling Communist party, said in a commentary the government should respond to Mongol grievances but stressed the anger was economic and not political.

"The Mongolian protests... are not a politically driven demonstration. Some of their requests are reasonable, and should be responded to by the local government," the newspaper said.

China has responded with a heavy security crackdown across the region, including sealing off restive colleges and high schools.

Many of China's estimated six million ethnic Mongols have expressed frustration at what they say is an influx of members of China's dominant Han ethnic group triggered by the region's rich coal and other energy deposits.

Some say that influx has displaced herders, destroyed grazing lands, killed livestock, and threatens a traditional pastoral culture that Mongol activists say is already being swamped by Han ways.

The Global Times rejected as "improper" any link between the situation in the region bordering Mongolia and the past turmoil in Tibet and Xinjiang.

"Social conflicts are on the rise in China and ethnic minority areas are no exception. But the incidents there should not be exaggerated or over-interpreted," it said.

It said Mongol anger over the herder's death was "understandable" and due in part to anxiety over the changes brought by growing mining activities.

Inner Mongolia has sizeable deposits of coal, natural gas and various minerals.

In a sign authorities were trying to address people's concerns, the regional government issued a series of new rules to improve the mining industry, saying it would probe the impact of mines and transport links on people's livelihoods.

Under the measures, companies whose production and transport links were found to have a serious impact on local residents would be immediately ordered to stop production, Xinhua said in a separate report.

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