Africa
13:08, 21-Feb-2019
China vows ‘zero tolerance’ on illegal wildlife trade as Tanzania jails ‘Ivory Queen’
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00:46
China on Wednesday vowed a "zero tolerance" approach on the illegal trade of wildlife products and reminded its citizens, particularly those traveling to Africa, not to indulge in such activities, a day after a Tanzanian court sentenced prominent Chinese businesswoman Yang Fenglan to 15 years in prison over ivory trafficking.
Beijing also backed Tanzanian authorities in the case against the 69-year-old Yang, who has been dubbed by the media as “Ivory Queen” for her involvement in the trafficking of about two tons of tusks from around 400 elephants between 2000 and 2014.
“The Chinese government has always required overseas Chinese citizens to abide by local laws and regulations, and we do not protect the illegal and criminal acts of Chinese citizens. We support the relevant departments of Tanzania to investigate and handle the case in accordance with the law,” Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Geng Shuang told reporters in Beijing on Wednesday.
“China is willing to contribute continuously to the protection of endangered wildlife and to curbing illegal trade with the international community including Tanzania. I would like to remind Chinese citizens who are going to African countries to enhance their law-abiding awareness and not to buy or carry rare wild animal products such as ivory and rhino horns,” he added.
Yang and her two Tanzanian accomplices Salivius Matembo and Manase Philemon were booked in October 2015 over trafficking 860 pieces of ivory, estimated to be worth 5.6 million U.S. dollars, between 2000 and 2014. At the time of her arrest, Yang was serving as the vice president of the China-Africa Business Council of Tanzania.
The three were convicted of leading an organized trafficking ring by a local court in Kisutu, where Magistrate Huruma Shaidi on Tuesday sent each of them to jail for 15 years. Shaidi also ordered them to either pay 13 million U.S. dollars (about twice the market value of the trafficked tusks) in a joint fine for their crime or face an additional two years in jail.
01:11
Responding to a question on Yang's case in a press conference on Wednesday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson asserted that the Chinese government has adopted a “zero tolerance” attitude toward anyone participating in the illegal trade in endangered wildlife and its products, and has resolutely punished relevant criminals.
“China has always attached great importance to the protection of endangered wild animals and plants and strictly fulfilled its international obligations under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES),” Geng remarked.
“We have established a domestic legal and regulatory system centered on the Law on the Protection of Wildlife, the Forest Law, and the Regulations on the Administration of Import and Export of Endangered Wild Fauna and Flora,” he added.
The spokesperson also pointed out that since 2015, China has successively issued measures to stop importing ivory carvings, hunting elephants for ivory and commercial processing and sales of domestic ivory, which have been well received by the international community.
(Cover: Chinese national Yang Fenglan (C) is led by security personnel to appear in court on charges of trafficking elephant tusks, in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, February 19, 2019)