China Denies Links to Elephant Poaching in Kenya

Despite the growing list of suspicious coincidences, a Chinese official has denied links between increased elephant killings in Kenya and a nearby influx of Chinese workers.

Recently, an increasing series of unfortunate events have suggested that Chinese workers in Kenya could be linked to a rise in elephant killings near these work sites. But according to an article in China Daily, there is no connection.

Responding to “the latest blast”

China is under fire regarding activities that indicate construction workers in Kenya are involved with elephant poaching – a situation which is becoming more well known – but denied by China.

A Chinese official Monday denied allegations that demand for ivory from Chinese workers is a main contributor to rising elephant poaching in Kenya.

China Daily’s article was in response to “the latest blast from a Kenyan non-governmental organization” – which happened to be a Reuters quote by Wildlife Direct’s Paula Kahumbu.

We’ve seen a huge increase in the amount of poaching. We believe it is primarily due to the fact that the ivory sale last November has actually stimulated the markets …

There’s a massive influx of people, who are not very wealthy, who can afford to buy ivory at local prices and who make a lot of money out of it when they get it back to China.

And what about the ivory smuggling?

It (should) not be easy to move a container load of ivory from a country to another when there are such strict regulations. It means there is facilitation going on.

Simple coincidences?

It’s probably just a coincidence, but Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) has reported an alarming number of elephants murdered in close proximity to where construction projects are being done by Chinese workers.

So far this year, 73 elephants have been killed, and 98 elephants were killed in 2008.

The elephants’ tusks had been hacked out.

KWS elephant program coordinator, Moses Litroh, points out that:

More than 50 per cent of the dead elephants we have found have been in that area in the north where the Chinese are working on the road. We can perhaps assume that they have had a hand in it, maybe not all of them, but the coincidence is causing us great concern.

Coincidentally, The Telegraph UK reported late last year that “the majority of ivory smugglers arrested at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi are now Chinese Nationals.”

And in July, an illegal shipment of ivory and rhino horn was seized on its way to Laos; authorities believe China was the final destination.

Has China “cracked down” on ivory smuggling?

Director of enforcement and training at the endangered species’ office of the State Forestry Administration, Wan Ziming, believes that China is following the rules. He said that China has even “cracked down” on the illegal trade of ivory but admitted that “the home market is also being powered by the rising demand of wealthy Chinese.”

China Daily cited examples in which China had indeed enforced its laws against ivory smuggling.

In China, laws prohibit transporting elephant ivory and perpetrators can be punished by up to 12 years in jail.

In August, Guangzhou Customs seized two passengers from Ethiopia carrying 8 kg of ivory products, marking the 139th and 140th ivory smuggling cases at Guangzhou customs this year. By August, Baiyun airport customs in Guangzhou had seized 138 cases of ivory smuggling, totaling more than 182 kg, up by 90 percent year on year. The 8 million yuan of seized ivory, including bangles, bracelet, sculptures, pen vase and chess, all came from African countries, the custom said. Kunming seized Asian ivory of 36 kilograms worth 7.75 million yuan last December. The court sentenced smugglers Wang Jinkai and Wang Jinfu to 12 years in jail and a fine of 12,000 yuan.

Chinese workers “not aware” of laws?

But no one could deny that Chinese working in Kenya were, in fact, taking ivory back to China.

WWF’s TRAFFIC East Asia China Program Director Xu Hongfa claims that Chinese workers were unaware of the government’s ban on ivory imports.

In Kenya, ivory can be sold at local market. When Chinese workers brought it back, they did not know they were violating the law.

(It’s hard to believe this is actually what all the fuss is about.)

China’s new PR skills?

Does China’s reaction to allegations of involvement in elephant poaching remind anyone else of China’s public reaction to this year’s Uighur riots – or anything else that might invite international scrutiny?

Newsweek’s “Uighur Riots Teach China to Spin” pointed out how China is attempting to handle “bad press” in the “Internet age.”

For perhaps the first time, China is managing the PR with aplomb. It moved just as swiftly to justify its crackdown as it did to deploy the crackdown itself. Party officials know that the riots risk tarnishing China’s global image the way Lhasa did, so they have undertaken a swift program of public relations, getting the official version of the story out fast … The Chinese are suddenly looking like credible spin doctors.

This is another step in the learning curve for the ruling Chinese Communist Party, accustomed to the one-party state privilege of going relatively unquestioned. Internet and mobile phones have made full news blackouts like after the 1976 Tangshan earthquake—or the 1997 riots and shootings in Yili (also in Xinjiang)—impossible, so the CCP has been forced to learn spin.

That’s not to say news blackouts aren’t in force … It swiftly shut off the Internet and mobile phones … to control news and imagery seeping out, while feeding the press and TV with pictures and information. Web connections were still unavailable … mobile signals and texting services remained intermittent. Twitter has been blocked, too.

Clearly, China does not want its global image “tarnished.” And it seems these “coincidences” linking Chinese workers, Chinese nationals, and elephant poaching have the potential to “tarnish.”

So one really has to wonder about China’s public efforts to deflect a “growing list of suspicious coincidences” when it comes to the resurgence of elephant poaching in Kenya.

See also:

• Why is Poaching for Ivory Increasing? by Dr. Richard Leakey
• One-off Ivory Sale, Chinese Workers Kindle Demand
• Chinese Workers Could Be Driving Trade in Elephant Poaching for Ivory
• Kenya Fears Link Between Elephant Killings and Chinese Construction Projects
• Kenya Wildlife Service Dismayed at Resurgence in Elephant Poaching

Image source: flickr.com / CC BY 2.0