The China Africa Project
10.23.17
China’s Appetite for Abalone Spurs Organized Crime in South Africa
Cape Town-based journalist Kimon de Greef joins Eric and Cobus to discuss the lucrative illegal abalone trade between South Africa and China that threatens the survival of this prized shellfish. The abalone trade, according to recent reporting by de...
Video
10.11.17
The Town at the Heart of China’s Black Market in Ivory
from Environmental Investigation Agency
Last year, in response to mounting criticism for its key role in the steep decline in the world’s elephant population, China announced that it would ban ivory trading and shutter all of the country’s 177 licensed ivory processing companies and...
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09.28.17How China and America Can Protect the World’s Antiquities
Foreign Affairs
In 1971, a ping-pong match between the U.S. and Chinese national teams helped open relations between the two countries. Since then, people-to-people diplomacy has been a bright spot in otherwise tense interactions. But civil society engagement has...
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09.12.17Smuggling Operations at Sea Targeted in Latest UN Sanctions against North Korea
South China Morning Post
The UN has called on member states to use “new tools” to clamp down on smuggling activities at sea under the latest sanctions against North Korea following its nuclear test last week.
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08.29.17Under Pressure: The Story behind China’s Ivory Ban
Guardian
For years Chinese government officials were followed around the world, at every meeting, by a single issue: the scores of dead elephants across Africa, and the international community that blamed China for this “ivory “holocaust”.
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08.15.17Here’s How Chinese Companies Are Acting As Shopping Agencies To Help North Korea Violate Sanctions
Los Angeles Times
Cai didn’t know what he was bringing into North Korea, and he didn’t dare ask.Whenever the 49-year-old truck driver crossed the bridge into North Korea, the cargo was carefully wrapped so he couldn’t see what was inside.
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07.18.17Despite Ban, Rhino Horn Flooding Black Markets across China
National Geographic
The country is pledged to end the trade in elephant ivory this year, but will it take steps to help save rhinos?
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12.13.16China to Set Date to Close Ivory Factories
Guardian
Preparation is under way in China to bring in a ban on their domestic ivory trade, following a promise made with the US earlier this year
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12.07.16China’s ‘Walter White’ Sold $600k of Illegal Drugs Every Month to the US and Europe
Time
A chemistry professor in China has been convicted in a case that has drawn comparisons with the hit TV show "Breaking Bad"
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10.19.15Prince William to Give Ivory Trade Speech as China's President Xi Arrives
BBC
The Duke of Cambridge is to deliver a speech on the illegal ivory trade for broadcast on Chinese state TV.
Environment
07.22.15
China, Both Major Cause of and Potential Solution to Illegal Logging
from chinadialogue
China is now the world’s largest importer and consumer of wood-based products. Its booming domestic market is the main driver of growth in imports, though the country is also now the world’s most important timber-processing hub. In 2013, China’s...
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06.24.15100,000 Tons of Smuggled Meat, Some From 1970s, Seized Across China
New York Times
Smuggled frozen meat has been seized across China, some of it more than 40 years old and valued at up to $483 million.
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01.19.15Food Detectives on a Tough Case
New York Times
Behind the immaculate gray walls of the Customs and Border Protection’s laboratory here stands a cabinet containing three plastic vials filled with a sticky, yellowish substance. Honey, or so an importer has claimed.
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01.11.15Myanmar-China Trafficking: Sold by Father for $1000
BBC
Along the Chinese border, it is not just drugs being traded—Burmese women and children are being bought and sold.
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12.08.14Prince William Attacks China over ‘Ignorant Craving’ for Ivory
Independent
According to excerpts of his speech released in advance, Prince William, who is due to go to China early next year, will say: “Some endangered species are now literally worth more than their weight in gold."
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11.24.14China’s Regulations on Sale of Birth By-product in Chaos
Global Times
In a cramped, quiet room, several bloody placentas sit in a machine, drying. Some workers then ground them down and filled capsules with the viscera. This gory scene is not from a horror movie but the day-to-day business of an underground placenta...
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06.13.14ISU Student Tried to Smuggle Technology to China
Iowa City Press Citizen
An Iowa State University graduate student has apparently been held in a New Mexico jail without bond since February, and a television station reported that he is suspected of trying to illegally transfer specialized equipment to China.
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03.11.14A Border City on the Edge of the Law
New York Times
Mongla in Myanmar is best known among Chinese tourists for its casinos and large selection of rare and endangered animals.
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01.29.14Mass Slaughter of Vulnerable Shark Species in China, Wildlife Group Says
New York Times
600 whale sharks are being slaughtered annually at a factory near Wenzhou for foreign and domestic use.
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03.15.13‘White Gold’ In China
New York Times
China is a large importer of illegally acquired ivory. This photo set focuses on the tradesmen who make their living off of carving the ivory, some of which have been doing so for generations.
Reports
01.12.07
The State of Wildlife Trade in China
World Wildlife
This edition aims to highlight wildlife trade trends in threatened and at-risk wildlife from the past year, with an emphasis on the impact of China’s consumption on globally important biodiversity ‘hotspots.’ Surveys in 2007 found that while illegal...