Official rebuts report, says checks have been stepped up against such trade
Ho Ai Li Straits Times 22 May 13;
CHINA has lashed out at criticism that it is the main culprit behind the global smuggling of wildlife products, especially elephant tusks or ivory parts, saying it has stepped up checks against the illegal trade.
It is "unprofessional and a bit misleading" to say China is the largest consumer of wildlife animal products, said State Forestry Administration deputy director Yin Hong at a press conference yesterday.
China's rebuttal comes amid growing calls globally for Beijing to do more to stop wildlife smuggling, which observers say has grown in order to cash in on growing demand from the increasingly affluent Chinese. In particular, rising demand has led to the killing of more elephants for their tusks.
Last year, some 32,000 elephants were killed in Africa alone, said animal conservation group Born Free Foundation.
The World Wildlife Fund said there may be as few as 470,000 elephants left in Africa, from over a million in the 1970s.
In terms of frequency and scale, in the period between 2009 and 2011, the Chinese market has been more heavily implicated in illicit trade in ivory than any other country, said a report presented at a meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora in March.
"Importantly, the number of seizures made by other countries which implicate China in the trade has also increased by nearly five-fold over the same period of time," said the report.
Indeed, with the price of ivory rising by three times since 2006, ivory has become a kind of "white gold" favoured by Chinese investors.
US-based International Fund for Animal Welfare Asia regional director Grace Gabriel said 95 per cent of tourists caught each year with illegal ivory products at the airport in Nairobi, Kenya are Chinese nationals, according to Kenya's wildlife protection bureau.
"In recent years, it has become even more obvious that a lot of the seizures of tusks and ivory products are on their way to China...What more evidence do you need?" Ms Gabriel told The Straits Times.
But Ms Yin said the rise in seizures of illegal wildlife products just "shows that China has stepped up enforcement".
Earlier this year, China led 22 countries in Asia, Africa and America to crack down on cross-border and inter-continental wildlife smuggling, she added. Items seized included 6.5 tonnes of ivory and its products, 22 rhino horns and 10 tiger skins.
China also has a licensing system to regulate the sale of legally purchased ivory products. But critics have said the system is full of loopholes, and allows smuggled ivory products to be sold alongside licensed ones.
To be fair, Beijing has stepped up efforts to control the illegal wildlife trade, said Ms Gabriel.
Online shopping websites like Taobao have banned sales of items like rhino horns, tiger or ivory products. Through brochures and phone messages, Chinese officials are spreading the word that the ugly Chinese tourist is not just one who spits or speaks loudly but also one who buys ivory products abroad.
"The authorities are taking enforcement more seriously now but because China's demand and population is so huge, there's a lot more work to be done," Ms Gabriel said.
