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Date: April 19, 2024 Fri
Time: 3:14 am
china
Time: 3:14 am
china
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284 total results foundAuthor: Amon, Joe Title: Where Darkness Knows No Limits: Incarceration, Ill-treatment, and Forced Labor as Drug Rehabilitation in China Summary: This report details the abusive conditions suffered by detainees in China's drug detention centers, the failure of the Chinese government to deliver on its avowed commitment to a medical-based approach to its illicit drug use and addiction problems, and the human rights violations associated with the Anti-Drug Law. The report calls on the Chinese government to immediately close these centers and develop genuinely therapeutic, voluntary, community-based, outpatient drug dependency treatment alternatives. Details: New York: Human Rights Watch, 2010. 37p. Source: Internet Resource Year: 2010 Country: China Keywords: Detention Shelf Number: 117824 |
Author: Oberwittler, Dietrich Title: Public Opinion on the Death Penalty in China: Results from a General Population Survey Conducted in Three Provinces in 2007-09. Summary: This survey examines the support levels for the death penalty among the Chinese population, explores the reasons behind the attitudes, suggests possible ways to change public opinion, and analyses the views of the Chinese population in relation to international norms on the imposition of the death penalty Details: Freiburg, Germany: Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law, 2009. 28p. Source: Year: 2009 Country: China Keywords: Capital Punishment Shelf Number: 116299 |
Author: Matas, David Title: Bloody Harvest: Revised Report into Allegations of Organ Harvesting of Falun Gong Practitioners in China Summary: It is alleged that Falun Gong practitioners are victims of live organ harvesting throughout China. This report presents the findings of an investigation into these allegations. Details: Unpublished: 2007. 237p. Source: Internet Resource Year: 2007 Country: China Keywords: Bias-Motivated Crimes Shelf Number: 118747 |
Author: Environmental Investigation Agency Title: A Deadly Game of Cat and Mouse: How Tiger Criminals Give China the Run-Around Summary: Between 25 July and 14 August 2009 EIA carried out an investigation in the markets of Xining (Qinghai Province), Linxia (Gansu Province), Lhasa (TAR), Shigatse (TAR) and Nagchu (TAR). A team also attended the Nagchu Horse Festival (TAR). In just 21 days, EIA documented a range of items for sale, some openly displayed. In addition, EIA documented at least 9 people wearing real tiger skin chupas and at least 25 people wearing real leopard skin chupas at the Nagchu Horse Festival. Numerous ivory bangles, prayer beads and other carvings were documented for sale without State Forest Administration / CITES certificates in Xining, Linxia and Lhasa. Details: London: Environmental Investigation Agency, 2010. 11p. Source: Internet Resource Year: 2010 Country: China Keywords: Illegal Wildlife Trade Shelf Number: 119546 |
Author: Xiu, Liu Title: Organized Crime and the Black Economy in China Summary: Organized crime has now become a serious social problem in all cities in China. Officially, the Chinese government has thus far acknowledged that only a few criminal groups have acquired so-called mafia-like characteristics in their organizational structure. However, there are no real mafia-type organizations in China. Organized crime in China mainly engages in drug trafficking, money laundering, smuggling, human trafficking, manufacture and smuggling of counterfeit money and guns, prostitution, etc. Details: Santiago, Chile: Global Consortium on Security Transformation, 2010. 20p. Source: Internet Resource: Working Paper Series, No. 7: Accessed November 29, 2010 at: http://www.securitytransformation.org/images/publicaciones/173_Working_Paper_7_-_Organized_Crime_and_the_Black_Economy_in_China.pdf Year: 2010 Country: China Keywords: Drug Trafficking Shelf Number: 120299 |
Author: Lagdameo, Mary Angela Title: Human Smuggling from Fujian to New York Summary: Since the first significant wave of illegal Fujianese immigrants to the United States in mid-1980, their migrant population in New York’s Chinatown has increased to an estimated 300,000. Although the Golden Venture incident in 1993 prompted the United States and Chinese government to increase crackdowns on human smuggling operations, smugglers have continued to successfully transport illegal Fujianese to the United States. Fujian’s history of migration and the local perception that human smuggling is a legitimate business fuels a transnational human smuggling business in the 21st century. Recent scholarship suggests that human smuggling is run by “ordinary individuals” who create temporary alliances for the purposes of money making. In order to successfully dismantle human smuggling organizations, the United States and Chinese governments should therefore focus on catching individuals who work at all levels of the human smuggling business. Details: Los Angeles: University of Southern California, East Asian Area Studies, 2008. 96p. Source: Internet Resource: Master's Thesis: Accessed March 15, 2011 at: http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/assetserver/controller/item/etd-Lagdameo-2050.pdf Year: 2008 Country: China Keywords: Human Smuggling (China) Shelf Number: 121010 |
Author: Wang, Hao Title: China’s Organ Transplant Industry and Falun Gong Organ Harvesting: An Economic Analysis Summary: This thesis evaluated the allegation that systematic, large-scale organ seizures from unwilling Falun Gong practitioners have been supplying the majority of organs for the organ transplant industry in China since 1999. Despite the tremendous growth in the organ transplant industry after 1999, the known sources of organ supply — namely the living donors, brain-dead, Non-Heart-Beating-Donors and executed prisoners—have not shown significant growth over time and fail to explain the huge quantity of annual transplants. The detained population of Falun Gong practitioners is found to have the requisite population size and characteristics of a large “organ bank.” They are the only prison group that provides an adequate explanation for the explosive growth in the volume of China’s organ transplants between 2000 and 2005. It is the conclusion of this paper that the organs of detained Falun Gong practitioners are being systematically harvested for use in China’s organ transplant industry — and that such practice is an industrialized form of the Communist Party’s systematic persecution against Falun Gong. Details: New Haven, CT: Yale University, 2007. 57p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 19, 2011 at: http://organharvestinvestigation.net/events/YALE0407.pdf Year: 2007 Country: China Keywords: Black Markets Shelf Number: 121397 |
Author: Clarke, Shelley Title: Understanding China's Fish Trade and Traceability Systems Summary: It is widely acknowledged that developments in China, the fastest-growing major economy in the world, have a crucial influence on the future of a wide range of global industries. It should not therefore be surprising that China also plays a pivotal role in the global seafood industry. In fact, China is now the world’s leading exporter of marine fish products, outranking Peru, Norway, the Russian Federation, the USA, Thailand and Chile in 2006. Despite these statistics, details of the fish reprocessing industry (i.e. from imported materials) are not well understood owing to a lack of publicly available data. Better understanding of how fisheries resources are used by China, and the extent to which these processes are controlled by national and international regulations, is an essential component of effective global fisheries management. By illuminating the role China plays in fish reprocessing, the extent to which China must be involved in solutions to the problems of overfishing and illegal, unreported and unregulated catches (IUU) is highlighted. This study has aimed to compile information comprehensively from a wide variety of sources in a fair and consistent manner around two major themes. The first describes the historical development and current structure and operation of China’s fish re-processing trade. This trade is examined by species and product by working backwards to source fisheries and forwards to end-markets. The regulation of the trade using product yield is then described and assessed. The second theme documents current systems for fish traceability in China to understand where there may be weaknesses which allow infiltration of illegally sourced fish. The ability of these systems to comply with existing and pending international fish certification and documentation schemes is also discussed. Under both of these topics, the scope of this study is limited to fish from marine capture fisheries caught or re-processed by mainland China. Aquaculture and domestic consumption within mainland China are not covered. Although Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan have special links with the mainland, these areas maintain their own systems of governance, regulations and trade statistics and thus are also outside the scope of this report. Details: Hong Kong, China: TRAFFIC East Asia, 2009. 111p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 5, 2011 at: www.traffic.org/fisheries-reports/traffic_pub_fisheries9.pdf Year: 2009 Country: China Keywords: Illegal Fishing Shelf Number: 121649 |
Author: Qian, Yi Title: Counterfeiters: Foes or Friends? Summary: This paper combines a natural policy experiment and randomized lab experiments to estimate the differential impacts of counterfeiting on the sales and purchase intent of branded products of various quality levels. I collect new product-line level panel data from Chinese shoe companies from 1993-2004. Exploiting the discontinuity of government enforcement efforts for the footwear sector in 1995 and the differences in authentic companies' relationships with the government, I identify heterogeneous effects of counterfeit entry on sales of authentic products of three quality tiers. In particular, counterfeits have both advertising effects for the brand and substitution effects for authentic products. The advertising effect dominates substitution effect for high-end authentic product sales, and the substitution effect outweighs advertising effect for low-end product sales. The positive effect of counterfeits is most pronounced for the high-fashion products (such as women's high-leg boots) and for the high-end shoes of the brands that were not yet well-known at the time of the entry by counterfeiters. I provide a theoretical framework to generalize such impacts due to counterfeits. Analogous heterogeneous effects of counterfeiting on consumer purchase intent for branded products of three quality tiers are also discovered in lab experiments. Responses in the lab allude to the fact that counterfeits could increase brand awareness as well as steal business. Details: Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research, 2011. 66p. Source: Internet Resource: NBER Working Paper Series; Working Paper 16785: Accessed June 28, 2011 at: http://www.nber.org/papers/w16785.pdf Year: 2011 Country: China Keywords: Consumer Fraud Shelf Number: 121880 |
Author: Environmental Investigation Agency Title: Made In China: How China's Illegal Ivory Trade is Causing a 21st Century African Elephant Disaster Summary: China has the largest illegal ivory trade of any nation in the world. It is the most significant global destination for illegal ivory. Ivory traders are now thought to be stockpiling elephant tusks and ivory products for lucrative sales to the hundreds of thousands of foreigners expected to attend the Beijing Olympics in the summer of 2008. China’s long failure to crack down on its massive illegal ivory trade makes a mockery of its claims to be hosting a “Green Olympics”. Chinese nationals, companies – some government owned – and organized crime syndicates are implicated in the smuggling of vast amounts of illegal ivory and the consequent elephant poaching afflicting much of Africa. Countries affected include Sudan, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Chad, Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, Cameroon, and Mali. Indications suggest that Chinese involvement in illegal ivory trade extends to other African elephant range states as well. With Chinese investment and human presence in resource extraction operations across Africa skyrocketing, demand for ivory will overwhelm the ability of range states to conserve their elephants from poaching gangs connected to Chinese ivory buyers, often in collusion with corrupt government officials. China’s massive illegal ivory trade is not an accident. Failure by the Government of China to ensure meaningful enforcement of CITES regulations that prohibit the import and export of ivory resulted in illegal ivory flooding onto the domestic market in the 1990’s. China’s demand for ivory is directly responsible for the renewed poaching crisis facing many African elephant populations, as this report shows. After CITES increased protection for Africa’s rapidly disappearing elephants by banning international trade in ivory products in 1989, China neglected to fully enshrine those legal protections in domestic law for 17 years. Over that period its government did little to enforce CITES regulations prohibiting ivory imports or exports. Major failures included a vast loophole enabling traders to register ivory which they had “forgotten” to register at the time of the 1989 CITES ban as “pre-convention”, in effect enabling smuggled ivory to be legalized and then moved onto China’s flourishing domestic market. Illegal ivory seized by Chinese government agencies is also alleged to have disappeared into government ivory stocks. Numerous traders have confirmed that government ivory stocks continued to be sold to them in the 1990’s and 2000’s, including via government owned companies. Even the ruling Communist Party of China is reported to have held ivory stocks which were sold to traders. Organized smuggling syndicates have proliferated across Africa in recent years as Chinese companies and nationals pour into the continent, extracting its rich resources to fuel the explosive growth in manufacturing on the Chinese mainland. Whether working for oil companies in Sudan and Angola, or logging companies in west and central Africa, some Chinese nationals are tempted into working for the lucrative underground ivory trade. Africa’s elephants are paying the price for China’s failure to enforce the CITES ban. Recent commendable efforts by China’s government to suppress the illegal ivory trade have resulted in some high-profile seizures as well as restrictions on ivory product sales. Yet the government has now legalized dozens of companies thought to be implicated in illicit trade. Further, it undermines its own efforts to crack down on illegal trade by auctioning off confiscated poached ivory to domestic traders. Worse, China is now seeking legal approval from CITES to take part in future ivory auctions in order to expand its domestic trade. The Chinese government’s determination to host a “Green Olympics” in 2008 will be badly tainted if it continues to protect a domestic ivory trade that is fueling widespread poaching and illegal trade across several continents. The country’s very belated efforts to ratchet up enforcement operations against large-scale smuggling and commercial trade in ivory are not enough to prevent a 21st century African elephant disaster, driven by Chinese consumer demand. Instead the Government of China can affirm its commitment to CITES and to protecting endangered species by taking immediate action to ban the domestic trade in ivory. By simplifying enforcement procedures and empowering enforcement personnel across the nation, ivory trade can be eliminated within China’s borders. A precedent already exists. In 1993 China banned domestic rhino horn trade after rhino poaching in Africa and Asia and the flow of horns to China had reached crisis levels. China’s successful action to save the world’s rhinos demonstrated high level political will to protect the wildlife of other nations. Today, China’s people face two key questions with regard to another beloved endangered species: the African elephant. First, where does all the ivory in China come from, almost 18 years after international trade was banned? And second, does the Government of China have the political will to ban the domestic ivory trade that is helping to push many African elephant populations towards extinction? Details: London; Washington, DC: EIA, 2007. 36p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 31, 2011 at: http://www.eia-global.org/PDF/Report--MadeInChina--Species--May07.pdf Year: 2007 Country: China Keywords: Endangered Species Shelf Number: 122567 |
Author: Broadhurst, Roderic Title: Business and the Risk of Crime in China Summary: The book analyses the results of a large scale victimisation survey that was conducted in 2005-06 with businesses in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Xi’an. It also provides comprehensive background materials on crime and the criminal justice system in China. The survey, which measured common and non-conventional crime such as fraud, IP theft and corruption, is important because few crime victim surveys have been conducted with Chinese populations and it provides an understanding of some dimensions of crime in non-western societies. In addition, China is one of the fastest-growing economies in the world and it attracts a great amount of foreign investment; however, corruption and economic crimes are perceived by some investors as significant obstacles to good business practices. Key policy implications of the survey are discussed. Details: Canberra, Australia: The Australian National University E Press, 2011. 314p. Source: Asian Studies Series Monograph 3: Internet Resource: Accessed February 10, 2012 at http://epress.anu.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/whole.pdf Year: 2011 Country: China Keywords: Businesses and Crime Shelf Number: 124079 |
Author: Title: Perilous Journeys: The Plight of North Koreans in China and Beyond Summary: Scores of thousands of North Koreans have been risking their lives to escape their country’s hardships in search of a better life, contributing to a humanitarian challenge that is playing out almost invisibly as the world focuses on North Korea’s nuclear program. Only a little over 9,000 have made it to safety, mostly in South Korea but also in Japan, Europe and the U.S. Many more live in hiding from crackdowns and forcible repatriations by China and neighbouring countries, vulnerable to abuse and exploitation. If repatriated to the North, they face harsh punishment, possibly execution. China and South Korea have held back, even during the Security Council debate over post-test sanctions, from applying as much pressure as they might to persuade Pyongyang to reverse its dangerous nuclear policy, in part because they fear that the steady stream of North Koreans flowing into China and beyond would become a torrent if the North’s economy were to collapse under the weight of tough measures. While there is marginally more hope Beijing will change its ways than Pyongyang, concerned governments can and must do far more to improve the situation of the border crossers. Even without a strong response to the 9 October 2006 nuclear test that targets the North’s economy, the internal situation could soon get much worse. The perfect storm may be brewing for a return to famine in the North. Last year, Pyongyang reintroduced the same public distribution system for food that collapsed in the 1990s and rejected international humanitarian assistance, demanding instead unmonitored development help. Funding for remaining aid programs is difficult to secure, and summer floods have damaged crops and infrastructure. Hunger and the lack of economic opportunity, rather than political oppression, are the most important factors in shaping a North Korean’s decision to leave “the worker’s paradise”. A lack of information, the fear of being caught by Chinese or North Korean security agents and financial limitations are more significant barriers than any actual wall or tight security at the border. China compensates for the virtual absence of border guards with a relentless search for North Koreans in hiding. In October 2006, Chinese authorities began to build a fence along the frontier and conduct neighbourhood sweeps to find and arrest the border crossers. Despite these formidable obstacles, the willingness among North Koreans to risk their lives to escape is growing stronger, and arrivals in the South are likely to hit a record this year. The most important pull factor shaping the decision to leave is the presence of family members in China and, increasingly, South Korea. The nearly 9,000 defectors in the South are able to send cash and information to help their loved ones escape. To a lesser but significant extent, information is beginning to spread in the North through smuggled South Korean videos, American and South Korean radio broadcasts, and word of mouth – all exposing North Koreans to new ideas and aspirations. Most North Koreans do not arrive in China with the intention of seeking official asylum, but because Beijing is making it ever more difficult for them to stay, a growing number are forced to travel thousands of kilometres and undertake dangerous border crossings in search of refuge in Mongolia or South East Asia. The mass arrests of 175 asylum seekers in Bangkok in August 2006 and a further 86 on 24 October provide vivid examples of host country hospitality being stretched to the limits. The vast majority of North Koreans who have made it to safety resettle in South Korea. In most instances, this is a choice motivated by language, culture and the promise of being reunited with family members. In a growing number of cases, the overly burdensome procedures for being granted asylum anywhere else is the deciding factor. With the exception of Germany, the governments that have pressed most vigorously for improving North Korean human rights, namely the U.S., the European Union member states and Japan, have taken in only a handful of asylum seekers. A loose network of makeshift shelters focused on humanitarian aid has evolved into a politically-charged but fragile underground railroad on which some North Koreans can buy safe passage to Seoul in a matter of days, while others suffer years of violence and exploitation. If they are to minimise the exploitation of the most vulnerable and enhance the much-needed aid this network delivers, concerned governments must commit to a sustainable solution. None of the policies proposed in this report would create unmanageable burdens for any government. Unless North Korea’s economy collapses completely, the numbers of its citizens crossing international borders will continue to be restricted by many factors, not least Pyongyang’s tight controls on internal movement and the financial cost of securing an escape route. However, it is time to back up strong words and resolutions about the plight of North Koreans with actions, both because humanity demands it and because if the international community cannot quickly get a handle on this situation, it will find it harder to forge an operational consensus on the nuclear issue. Details: Brussels: International Crisis Group, 2006. 48p. Source: Internet Resource: Asia Report No. 122: Accessed April 18, 2012 at: http://www.crisisgroup.org/~/media/Files/asia/north-east-asia/north-korea/erilous_journeys___the_plight_of_north_koreans_in_china_and_beyond.ashx Year: 2006 Country: China Keywords: Forced Marriages Shelf Number: 125015 |
Author: Committee for Human Rights in North Korea Title: Lives for Sale: Personal Accounts of Women Fleeing North Korea to China Summary: This report calls the world’s attention to the suffering of North Korean women who have become the victims of trafficking and forced marriages when escaping their country for a new life in China. Not only are the political and economic rights of these women neglected by their own government, but also by the government of their country of asylum. Too often the failure of both North Korea and China to protect them has been overlooked by the international community. Women represent the majority of North Koreans who flee into China. One of the reasons they cross the border is lack of sufficient food or the means of survival in their own country. For almost twenty years, famine has stalked North Korea. It reached its peak in the mid-1990s but remains a specter, and may reach crisis proportions again. Caused largely by government policies, combined with natural disasters, the famine of the 1990s killed and displaced millions of North Koreans. Women of the classes defined by the regime as politically disloyal became especially vulnerable when husbands and fathers died, and they began to flee to China in search of food and economic opportunities for themselves and their families. Unauthorized departure, however, is a crime in North Korea. Although seeking opportunities in China, they instead became victims of traffickers and victims of men in China who paid traffickers to purchase a North Korean “wife.” The “marriages” the women enter, often through coercion, have no official standing in China and are given no legal protection. The women in these marriages are frequently “trapped,” unable to free themselves from arrangements in which they were sold for a price. They also live in fear of being returned to North Korea where they can expect incarceration, punishment, and even possible torture and death. Yet they are not permitted to prove they are political refugees or refugees sur place. Instead, they must bear exploitation and insecurity in China so as to avoid forced repatriation and punishment. Even when they are sold to partners who do not abuse them and raise families, they are still denied their basic rights. They and their children often have no legal status. Children conceived in China are usually not protected by the laws of either China or North Korea. The interviews in this report make clear the difficult choices facing North Korean women who describe in their own words what has happened to them. “They would not allow me to leave the house,” one woman recounted, “then someone from Yanji came to take me to Heilongjiang Province by train. Only when we arrived in a village in Heilongjiang did I hear I was going to get married.” Another recalled, “I ran away from the house, not knowing where to go. Within a few hours, I was caught and brought back by the Chinese man. He took out his leather belt and whipped me.” One woman who was forcibly returned to North Korea and escaped again to China said, “I was interrogated and detained for four weeks. During the interrogation, the man who was asking me questions suddenly punched me in my left eye with his fist. My eyeball cracked and I lost eyesight in that eye immediately…” These are stories of human suffering that have received far too little notice in the world at large. The human rights abuses of the North Korean regime, increasingly made known by news accounts, reports of the United Nations Secretary-General and Special Rapporteur, defectors, and organizations like ours, are beginning to be understood and condemned internationally. What is often ignored, however, is that these abuses do not stay in the confines of North Korea but spill over into neighboring countries, and inflict pain on the lives of North Korean citizens outside their borders. Often overlooked too are the special needs of North Korea’s women and the desperation many face. This is a report about women whose lives are at risk and for sale. It makes recommendations for change. We urge that these recommendations be widely read and acted upon. Details: Washington, DC: Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, 2009. 64p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 18, 2012 at: http://hrnk.org/wp-content/uploads/Lives_for_Sale.pdf Year: 2009 Country: China Keywords: Forced Marriages Shelf Number: 125016 |
Author: Muico, Norma Kang Title: An Absence of Choice: The Sexual Exploitation of North Korean Women in China Summary: The sexual exploitation of North Korean women in China is a complex issue. It encompasses a wide range of situations and levels of complicity on the part of the woman. In cases of trafficking, women can be forced into marriage or the sex industry. The methods by which traffickers recruit women are deception, coercion and abduction. Although many women try to escape from their exploitative situation, others do not. Testimonies from trafficked women indicate that many remain because they feel helpless and powerless to change their situation. In the case of forced marriages, some women choose to stay because of the birth of a child and/or they have developed an emotional attachment to their husband. Several women trafficked into forced marriage and the sex industry have expressed the view that despite everything, their current situation is better than risking repatriation or starvation. Finally, not all North Korean spouses of Chinese men have been trafficked. In fact, many North Korean women allow a third party to sell them as brides to Chinese men or agree to an arranged marriage. Marriages involving undocumented North Korean women, however, are not legally binding and if the women are caught by the Chinese authorities, they - like any other irregular North Korean migrant - face deportation. Details: London: Anti-Slavery International, 2005. 24p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 18, 2012 at: http://www.antislavery.org/includes/documents/cm_docs/2009/f/full_korea_report_2005.pdf Year: 2005 Country: China Keywords: Forced Marriages Shelf Number: 125017 |
Author: Tanner, Murray Scot Title: China Confronts Afghan Drugs: Law Enforcement Views of “The Golden Crescent” Summary: The rising flow of illegal drugs from the “Golden Crescent” region—Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran—into western China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) has caused increasing concern to Chinese law enforcement officials and analysts. This study seeks to strengthen understanding of Chinese law enforcement perceptions of the Golden Crescent drug problem by making use of previously underexploited Chinese law enforcement publications. Key Findings • Chinese law enforcement officials and analysts now see Golden Crescent trafficking as a major and rapidly growing threat to society. This view reflects a major shift from China’s earlier exclusive focus on the “Golden Triangle” region drug threat. • Chinese law enforcement analysts blame the rise in Golden Crescent drug smuggling on the increase in foreign supply rather than Chinese demand. These analyses tend to understate Chinese domestic problems, such as police corruption, ethnic tensions, and rising drug prices and demand, which may have made China a more attractive drug shipping route. • Chinese analyses of popular Golden Crescent smuggling routes emphasize highway, air, and rail routes through Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Kazakhstan. If correct, these analyses indicate that these four important security partners of Beijing may be failing to prevent trafficking into China across their territory. • The Chinese law enforcement writings reviewed indicate that China has serious weaknesses in its counternarcotics intelligence capabilities and is anxious to overcome them. Problems include meager clandestine intelligence on Asian drug networks, weak data on trafficking by ethnic separatists, and poor intelligence networking and sharing across jurisdictions. • Increasingly sophisticated trafficker techniques coupled with greater linguistic diversity among traffickers are frustrating Chinese law enforcement officials, who find these traffickers more difficult to investigate, detect, and interrogate. • Even though law enforcement analysts confidently assert a significant link between terrorism and drug trafficking, sources reviewed for this study provide very little solid evidence that the two are connected. Details: Alexandria, VA: CNA Analysis & Solutions, 2011. 39p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 17, 2012 at: http://www.cna.org/sites/default/files/research/China%20Confronts%20Afghan%20Drugs...%20D0024793.A1_1.pdf Year: 2011 Country: China Keywords: Drug Markets Shelf Number: 125635 |
Author: Martin, Esmond Title: The Ivory Dynasty: A Report on the Soaring Demand for Elephant and Mammoth Ivory in Southern China Summary: China is the largest importer by weight of illegal ivory in the world (Milliken, et al. 2009). In response the government of China took steps to reduce this illegal ivory trade in 2004 by introducing an official identification card for each ivory item sold in registered shops. China was then approved by CITES to buy tusks from the southern African ivory auctions in 2008; Chinese traders bought 62 tonnes. In January 2011 we surveyed ivory factories and retail outlets in Guangzhou, the largest city in southern China and an important ivory centre, and in Fuzhou, a city famous for carving. According to a factory owner in Fuzhou, in 2010 he paid on average USD 455/kg for government-owned 1-5kg tusks with a range of USD 303- 530/kg. Similarly, privately-owned raw ivory in 2010 was USD 750/ kg, according to various sources. Siberian mammoth high quality tusks were around USD 400/kg in 2010 wholesale in China. In Guangzhou we counted 6,437 ivory objects (88% newer items) on display for retail sale of which 3,947 were being sold without ID cards therefore illegally. There were 80 outlets selling ivory in Guangzhou of which only eight displayed the compulsory ID cards. Demand for ivory is increasing; since 2004 there has been a 50% increase in the number of ivory items for sale in Guangzhou. There were also 6,541 mammoth ivory items counted, mostly in mammoth ivory specialty shops. Since 2004 there has been a 100% rise in mammoth ivory items in Guangzhou. This is mainly due to an increasingly wealthy Chinese population, and favourable publicity about mammoth tusks. In Fuzhou, ivory demand is much less: we counted only 282 ivory items (66% older pieces) in 39 outlets; none had ID cards. Mammoth ivory items numbered 100, mostly in one outlet. Of all the elephant ivory items we counted in Guangzhou and Fuzhou, 63% did not have ID cards and were therefore illegally on display. Recommendations to cut down illegal trade are given in this report. Details: London: Elephant Family, The Aspinall Foundation and Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, 2011. 20p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 20, 2012 at: http://www.elephantfamily.org/uploads/copy/EF_Ivory_Report_2011_web.pdf Year: 2011 Country: China Keywords: Elephants Shelf Number: 125711 |
Author: Nowell, Kristin Title: Taming the Tiger Trade: China's Markets for Wild and Captive Tiger Products Since the 1993 Domestic Trade Ban Summary: Tigers are threatened with extinction, with a global effective population size of fewer than 2,500 adults in the wild. One of the primary threats to their survival is illegal trade in bone, used for traditional medicines or for health tonics. The illegal trade in skins for clothing is a growing threat, as well. With Tigers so rare, demand has widened to other Asian big cat species, including Leopard, Snow Leopard and Clouded Leopard. China’s consumers have held the largest market share of these global, illegal trades. China’s existing policy—a complete trade ban, implemented in 1993—has been vital to protecting Tigers in the wild. China’s government should be congratulated for the positive, long-standing impacts of its policy, its enforcement actions and awareness efforts in support of Tiger conservation. This is particularly the case with traditional medicines. The TRAFFIC surveys of the current report found little Tiger bone available in China, with less than 3% of 663 medicine shops and dealers in 26 Chinese cities claiming to stock it. There was high awareness that Tiger is protected and that trade is illegal (with 64% of retail pharmacies mentioning this to the TRAFFIC investigators). China’s medicinal industry now appears largely in compliance with the 1993 trade ban. The ban has greatly reduced the production, sale and use of Tiger and Leopard medicines. With regard to traditional medicine, China’s policy is achieving its goal. TRAFFIC’s findings provide strong evidence that China’s trade ban has been effective at reducing the market for Tiger products, particularly traditional medicines. Still, illegal trade remains a threat. China’s progress in Tiger conservation, especially Tiger trade, would almost certainly be undone if China’s markets for Tiger products were re-opened. Presently, business people in China who stand to profit from Tiger trade are encouraging demand for Tiger products. And the government of China has been petitioned to ease its trade ban by allowing domestic trade in medicines made from captive-bred Tigers. Details: Hong Kong, China: TRAFFIC East Asia, 2007. 75p. Source: A TRAFFIC East Asia Report: Internet Resource: Accessed August 8, 2012 at http://www.traffic.org/species-reports/traffic_species_mammals16.pdf Year: 2007 Country: China Keywords: Illegal Wildlife Trade (China) Shelf Number: 125942 |
Author: Gabriel, Grace G. Title: Making a Killing: A 2011 Survey of Ivory Markets in China Summary: An unprecedented surge in ivory seizures occurred in 2011. Media reported that 5,259 elephant tusks were seized worldwide in that year alone, representing the lives of at least 2,629 elephants. In spite of the government’s efforts to regulate the ivory trade, China continues to be the world’s main recipient of smuggled ivory. In 2004 China introduced an ivory product registration and certification system to control the domestic ivory market and to meet the conditions required by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora (CITES) for the purchase of stockpiled ivory from some African countries. In July 2008, the CITES Standing Committee approved of China as a trading partner for the second so-called “one-off ” sale of ivory from Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Zimbabwe. IFAW has been investigating ivory markets in Asia for the past ten years. Recently we initiated our fifth survey of ivory markets in China. This survey was conducted two and half years after the 62 tonnes of ivory China bought at the CITES approved sale were officially imported in March 2009. The survey was conducted by local experts who both visited physical markets and monitored online marketplaces. The physical market visits were conducted in September and October 2011 in five cities along the eastern seaboard of China. Online marketplaces were monitored for one week in January 2012. In general, the survey found widespread abuse of the ivory trade control system. It became clear that illegal ivory, once smuggled to the country can be laundered freely through the legal market. The legal trade is sustaining and perpetuating a rising demand for elephant ivory. Details: Yarmouth Park, MA: International Fund for Animal Welfare, 2012. 13p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 13, 2012 at: http://www.ifaw.org/sites/default/files/Making%20a%20Killing.pdf Year: 2012 Country: China Keywords: Animal Poaching Shelf Number: 125995 |
Author: Environmental Investigation Agency - International Title: Tiger Bone Wine Auctions in China Summary: On 2nd December 2011, news broke that an auction house in Beijing was planning to sell several bottles of tiger bone wine on 3rd December 2011. Following government and media exposure, this sale was cancelled. However in the days afterward EIA discovered that further auctions were scheduled for the 31st December - 8th January 2012. The State Forestry Administration for China once again responded by calling for a halt to that auction. The sale of products containing or claiming to contain tiger bone from auction houses (or indeed any source) in China is illegal under the State Council Order of 1993 (Guofa 1993 No. 39). This applies equally to pre-1993 stocks of tiger bone wine, an issue that was recently clarified by the Chinese State Forestry Administration in a notification sent to auction houses on 9th January 2012. The notification recognised and explicitly stated that auction houses are not permitted to offer products made from tiger bones. In addition to the State Council Order of 1993, the notification also cited infractions of other relevant laws such as "Wildlife Protection Law of 1998", "Implementing Regulations of Terrestrial Wildlife Protection of 1993" and "Criminal Law." However, it has emerged that the December auctions were not isolated incidents. In response to concerns about the sale of tiger bone wine through auction houses, EIA has conducted on-line research into the sector. This research (links are included at the end of the document in original Chinese) has revealed a large number of auctions of tiger bone wine going back as far as 2009. While it is not possible to confirm that all tiger bone wine that was advertised for auction were successfully sold - as only a handful of auction houses publicise the final bid price - they clearly show that there is widespread demand for the product and that recent aborted auctions were not one-off events, but part of a larger trend of tiger bone wine being auctioned. The records also provide important information about the brands of tiger bone wine being offered and the price being asked. Details: London: Environmental Investigation Agency - International, 2012. 22p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 22, 2012 at http://www.eia-international.org/wp-content/uploads/Tiger-Bone-Wine-Auctions-2012.pdf Year: 2012 Country: China Keywords: Illegal Wildlife Trade (China) Shelf Number: 126102 |
Author: O'Connell-Rodwell, Caitlin Title: An Assessment of China's Management of Trade in Elephants and Elephant Products Summary: The serious decline of elephants in many Asian and African range countries due to demand for ivory throughout the 1970s and 1980s, particularly in East Asia, resulted in the adoption of various international measures to reduce the threats to elephants. In 1976, the Asian Elephant Elephas maximus was included in Appendix I and the African Elephant Loxodonta africana included in Appendix II of CITES. With continuing declines in populations of the African Elephant, the species was transferred to Appendix I of CITES in 1989, thereby effecting a ban on all commercial international trade in elephants, their parts and derivatives. China took a reservation to the 1989 Appendix I-listing of the African Elephant in order to protect the ivory carving industry, the majority of whose stocks were reported to be pre-Convention stocks (legally obtained prior to China’s accession to CITES). In August of the same year, the CITES Management Authority of China (CNMA) registered a total of 110 importers, exporters and ivory carving workshops, as well as 110 tonnes of raw and worked ivory, most of which was pre-Convention stock. Effective 11 January 1991, China withdrew its reservation and the ban on international commercial trade in ivory took effect in China. Although stocks acquired before the ban were reported to be pre-Convention, analysis of CITES Annual Reports, show that from 1991 to 1999, China exported 571 tusks, 1,006,111 ivory carvings as well as 345 kg of ivory carvings (an additional 9,442,401 ivory carvings were exported in 1990). However, information on the permits and / or the Annual Reports did not record the ‘Source’ of the exports. Of the 566 tusks reported as being exported in 1992, 554 tusks were recorded by China as being from pre-Convention stocks. Japan, however, did not report the import of these tusks - and only 1,769 ivory carvings exported from China from 1991 – 1999 were reported as being pre-Convention stock. The proliferation of safari parks in China since the mid-1990s is reflected in the increasing trend of live elephants imported into China. From 1989 to 2000, China reported the import of a total of 91 live elephants, of which 82 were imported between 1996 and 2000. In addition to the import of live elephants into China, elephants from China are also used for display or performances. Smuggling of live elephants has also been reported, with between five to seven elephants illegally imported from Myanmar in 1995. Not all reported imports appear to have been conducted in accordance with the provisions of the Convention. The conservation purposes and benefits of the import, in 1996, of 16 captive bred elephants from Myanmar for ‘Breeding’ are questionable. Perhaps of greater concern is the import, in 2000, of a single shipment of 20 wild elephants from Malaysia for ‘Zoos’. This trade is difficult to justify when there are captive bred specimens which could also have been used for the stated purpose. Furthermore, at least one safari park in China, the Guangzhou Panyu Safari Park, has an animal exchange programme under which it recently exported four red pandas, Ailurus fulgens, to Malacca zoo in Malaysia. It would appear that commercial trade in CITES Appendix I-listed species is being conducted where the profit is ‘in kind’. Seizure information for any illegal products, by its very nature, can only provide an indication of levels of illegal trade. Assessing China’s full role in the illicit ivory trade is exacerbated due to serious deficiencies in China’s seizure reporting system. Data that is available often lacks details on the date, number of pieces and/or weight of the seizure. The actual scale of illicit ivory trade in China therefore is likely to be considerably larger than current data shows. Nonetheless, available data clearly shows that China is a significant consumer of illegal ivory. Based on available data for the period January 1998 to September 2001, a minimum of 30 - 45 tonnes of ivory were seized destined for or entering China. Rhinoceros horn was also intercepted in some shipments from Africa. In addition to illicit ivory in trade, elephant skin reported to be equivalent to 20 elephants, believed to have originated in Myanmar and destined for a medicine manufacturing company in Shanghai was seized in 2000. In 2001, a further 10 tonnes of elephant skin, from an original 15 tonnes purchased in 1993, were seized in a Guangzhou traditional Chinese medicine company. The 15 tonnes were believed to represent 260 elephants. Smaller quantities of elephant skin also were observed by TRAFFIC staff for sale in the border areas of Laos and Myanmar. The state-run ivory carving industry has declined since the international trade ban in 1989 and it is likely that much of the ivory-carving industry now is run through private, and illegal, family operations. The main buyers of ivory are believed to be Chinese nationals, and the prosperous cities such as Shanghai, Guangzhou and Beijing believed to be the main centres of ivory consumption. One vendor in a Beijing outlet visited in 2000 remarked that he could obtain as much new ivory as was required. In general, Chinese nationals mainly purchase ivory at the lower end of the price range, particularly smaller pieces such as jewellery, name chops and chopsticks. China’s emergence as an ivory consumer market, and its potential to develop even further, can be explained, in part, through the growth of China’s private retail sector, the strong and increasing purchasing power of Chinese consumers and weak enforcement of ivory trade regulations within China. Consumer expenditure has surged in recent years and retail sales for jewellery, the most relevant category for ivory for which retail sales statistics in China are available, increased from over USD 360 million (RMB 3 billion) in 1994 to over USD 1.85 billion (RMB 15.3 billion) in 2000. Strong trade links with Africa also shed light on the dynamics of the illegal ivory trade. Seizures of illegally imported ivory from expatriate Chinese returning from Africa and sent by post are common. The China-Africa link supports earlier evidence, documented by TRAFFIC, of Africa-based,Asian-run ivory processing operations which produce semi-worked and worked ivory products for illicit export to selected Asian markets including to China. The majority of ivory in China’s markets is believed to be from African elephants. Illegal ivory imports from Myanmar have been documented, but ivory vendors and carvers expressed a preference for African ivory. Corruption, although a common phenomenon throughout the world, can not be treated lightly: diplomats representing the Government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea have been involved in a number of documented cases of ivory smuggling on a large scale. There is little evidence to suggest that North Korea has a domestic ivory carving industry within its own borders, and all seizure cases involving North Korean diplomats returning ‘home’ with consignments of raw ivory had air tickets which involved a stopover in Beijing, a routing which would make it convenient to move large volumes of ivory into China as diplomatic cargo (T. Milliken, pers. comm., June 2002). Recently an official from airport Customs and a shipping worker from China Air were implicated in a smuggling case of around 14 tonnes of ivory. The involvement of an unnamed ‘organ in China of a foreign country’ in this recent case also was alleged although further details are not available. The Wild Animal Protection Law (1989), the Enforcement Regulations for the Protection of Terrestrial Wildlife of the People’s Republic of China (1992) and the Customs Law (1987) are the principal legal instruments regulating import and export, processing and sale of Asian and African Elephant products. The State Forestry Administration also recently issued Notification 2001/234 urging relevant agencies to pay close attention to illicit ivory trade and established price standards for ivory so that illegal trade could be treated as criminal cases. Some successful enforcement actions have been carried out as reflected in the seizures made by Customs. Successful joint investigations and operations involving a range of relevant agencies also have been carried out on a number occasions. While these efforts are to be commended, so far they have been one-off exercises only and their impact would be greatly increased if carried out on a regular basis. Overall, however, enforcement of legal instruments is weak. Since registration in 1989, no further monitoring of ivory stocks in China has been conducted. Traders are not required to have a specific permit to sell ivory despite the Class I protected status of the African and Asian Elephant and despite the understanding that only vendors that registered in 1989 would be considered legal operators. It is therefore no possible to determine whether ivory seen in the markets of China is derived from stocks registered in 1989 or whether it has been more recently, and thus illegally, acquired. Implementation of legislation is hindered by a lack of inter-agency communication, overlapping responsibilities of government agencies and the consequent lack of clarity as to which agency is responsible for implementing which aspects of the law. This situation is particularly apparent with regard to the disposal of products confiscated from illegal trade. It is not clear which agency is responsible for holding confiscated stocks and whether confiscated ivory is kept in storage, destroyed or released / sold on to the domestic market. Details: TRAFFIC East Asia, 2002. 55p. Source: Internet Resource: TRAFFIC Online Report Series No.3: Accessed March 21, 2013 at: http://www.traffic.org/mammals/ Year: 2002 Country: China Keywords: Animal Poaching Shelf Number: 128059 |
Author: Environmental Investigation Agency Title: Appetite for Destruction: China's Trade in Illegal Timber Summary: In November 2011 China hosted the annual Asia-Pacific Forestry Week meeting conference at an impressive and vast centre near the Olympic Stadium in Beijing. During the week-long event participants from around Asia and beyond discussed a range of issues, encompassing China’s impressive reforestation programme to the links between deforestation and climate change. The meeting coincided with the tenth anniversary of the landmark Bali Declaration agreed at the East Asia ministerial meeting on Forest Law Enforcement and Governance in 2001. This event marked the first time governments from the region, including China, had come together to address the threat posed by widespread illegal logging. Yet meaningful discussions on illegal logging were strangely absent from the Beijing conference. This was probably out of deference to the hosts, as over the past decade China has emerged as the world’s leading trader in illegally logged timber. During the last decade, the major timber consumers of the United States, European Union and Australia have taken action to exclude illicit timber from their markets. Timber producing countries such as Indonesia have improved enforcement against illegal logging. Meanwhile, China has largely stood on the sidelines. The astounding economic growth of China attracts a host of superlatives; its position as the largest importer of stolen wood is one of the more undesirable ones. Since the late 1990s the country has taken strong measures to protect and grow its own forests. At the same time it has built a vast wood processing industry, reliant on imports for most of its raw materials supply. It is in effect exporting deforestation. Although much of the wood processing sector is export-oriented, the vast construction effort in China, coupled with increasing wealth, is creating a surge in domestic demand for timber products. A vivid example is the fashion for reproduction furniture made from rare rosewoods, which has created an upsurge in illegal logging from the Mekong region to Madagascar. The Environmental Investigation Agency has been conducting field investigations into flows of illicit timber since 2004, covering a host of producer countries such as Indonesia, Myanmar, Russia, Laos, Mozambique and Madagascar and, of course, China itself. The findings from these investigations, laid out in this report, show the impact of illegal logging to feed China’s market; destruction of vital forest ecosystems, loss of revenue for developing countries, increased corruption and conflict. This report also includes analysis of trade data showing flows of illicit timber into China worth billions of dollars a year, and highlights imports from countries known to have high rates of illegal logging and instances where national regulations such as log export bands are disregarded. The evidence makes a clear case for action by China. It needs to take measures to exclude illegally logged timber from its market. The fate of many of the world’s natural forests depends on this. Details: London: EIA, 2012. 32p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 28, 2013 at: http://www.eia-international.org/wp-content/uploads/EIA-Appetite-for-Destruction-lo-res.pdf Year: 2012 Country: China Keywords: Deforestation Shelf Number: 128157 |
Author: Environmental Investigation Agency Title: Hidden in Plain Sight: China’s Clandestine Tiger Trade Summary: Undercover investigations and a review of available Chinese laws have revealed that while China banned tiger bone trade for medicinal uses in 1993, it has encouraged the growth of the captive-breeding of tigers to supply a quietly expanding legal domestic trade in tiger skins. This Government-authorised trade spurs the poaching of wild tigers and undermines the international ban on tiger trade agreed by the majority of the world through the UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). The lack of clarity over the use of bone from captive-bred tigers to make wine has further stimulated trade and demand. Details: London: EIA, 2013. 32p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 28, 2013 at: http://www.eia-international.org/wp-content/uploads/EIA-Hidden-in-Plain-Sight-med-res.pdf Year: 2013 Country: China Keywords: Animal Poaching Shelf Number: 128160 |
Author: Lee, K.S. Title: Wild Animal Trade Monitoring at Selected Markets in Guangzhou and Shenzhen, South China, 2000-2003. Summary: Despite the booming live wild animal trade in South China, very few long-term, systematic studies have been conducted in the main markets. There is also a need to update our knowledge given the dynamic nature of the wildlife trade and the changing status of the animals concerned. The present study was initiated and conducted under the South China Biodiversity Conservation Programme of Kadoorie Farm & Botanic Garden, with the aim to document the species composition, relative trade volume and conservation implications of the wild animal trade in Guangzhou and Shenzhen, Guangdong Province. The survey started in October 2000 and finished in March 2003. It focused on live, non-aquatic wild animals, i.e. mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians, which were commonly traded for food and/ or pets in South China. Major wild animal markets and shops in Guangzhou and Shenzhen were surveyed twice a month from October to March, when food trade activity reaches its maximum. For the rest of the year, they were surveyed monthly. A wide range of animals was recorded, some in huge quantities (over 90,000 snakes and 24,000 turtles could be seen in one visit). The survey yielded 39 mammal species, 453 bird species, 154 reptile species and 31 amphibian species. A high proportion (59 species), particularly of turtles, were listed in the 2002 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: ten classified Critically Endangered, 19 Endangered and 30 Vulnerable. Many of them are CITES-listed (nine in Appendix I and 68 in Appendix II). Many nationally protected species in China were also traded: eight species in Category I of China's State Key Protected Wildlife List and 38 species in Category II. Besides wild-caught animals, captive-bred individuals (in particular mammals and turtles) constituted a fair proportion of the observed trade. Many of the animals traded were Chinese species or wide-ranging East Asian species. However, in the food and pet turtle trade, a large proportion of animals were imported from other countries. The species traded overlap fairly extensively with those reported in past studies with the exception of the food turtle trade. Large river turtles from Southeast Asia (such as Batagur baska, Callagur borneoensi sand Orlitia borneens)i sand Burmese species (Morenia ocellat aand Lissemys scutat)a were common in the markets whereas they were practically absent eight years ago. This supports the belief that the trade in wild-caught food turtles is unsustainable and new sources are being sought to satisfy the demand. A drastic reduction in the volume and the size of animals traded occurred in some species (e.g. the water snake Enhydris bocour tfriom Southeast Asia) during the course of the survey, again indicating that the wild population of the species concerned has crashed due to over-exploitation. In July 2001, the Guangdong Provincial Government enacted the "Guangdong Wildlife Protection and Management Regulation" and "Major Protected Wildlife of Guangdong Regulation" to prohibit the trade of certain wildlife species. This measure seemed to have only a short-term impact and the trade resumed to the original level several months later. The outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome is thought by some experts to be linked to the wild animal markets. In view of the serious threat posed by the commercial wildlife trade to regional biodiversity and to public health, the recent decision made by the Guangdong authority to restrict the trade to 54 successfully captive-bred species is to be welcomed. Other provinces should adopt similar measures and the cross-border wild animal trade should be banned. Greater numbers of captive-bred animals, of more species, are being sold than before. This indicates commercial-scale production of wild animals in China has been successful for certain mammals, birds and turtles. However, there is an urgent need to improve the wellbeing of the animals and the hygiene of the whole process. It is recommended that efforts be made to investigate the extent and success of these captive-breeding farms in order to come up with practical measures to make them sustainable, hygienic and safe. The pet trade in South China is insignificant (apart from cage birds) but is growing. Also many threatened Chinese species are being exported for the international pet trade. Hence, continual monitoring is needed. Also the import of known invasives should be banned. The wellbeing of the pet animals and the hygiene of the pet markets also need to be improved. The wildlife trade is dynamic and has changed substantially since records were first made. Further monitoring is essential to detect any change and/or trend in the markets so as to provide a warning system. Moreover, such monitoring would function as an independent check on the effectiveness of legislation, regulations and enforcement actions. In the longer term, a concerted effort by all the conservation groups looking at different aspects of the wildlife trade in the region would be useful to document the real extent of this trade, its impacts on wild populations and its socio-economic importance. The chances of making the trade sustainable will be much higher when this information is available. Many threatened and/or protected species are traded in South China and this exploitation is one of the main threats to the biodiversity in the region. Very good legislation and regulations on the wildlife trade are already in place but enforcement actions tend to lag behind in China. Technical support should be provided whenever appropriate. Also the State Key Protected Wildlife List should be expanded to cover all known threatened species. Details: Hong Kong: Kadoorie Farm and Botanic Garden, 2004. 40p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 21, 2013 at: http://www.kfbg.org/content/71/18/1/Wild%20Animals%20ENG.pdf Year: 2004 Country: China Keywords: Illegal Wildlife Trade Shelf Number: 128767 |
Author: Zhang, Lening Title: Youth Gangs in Contemporary China Summary: The present study examines the social context in which youth gangs have emerged as a social problem in China since 1970s. The problem is analyzed as part of the surging crime waves in the context of the nation’s economic reform and its implementation of the one-child policy. The economic reform and the implementation of the one-child policy have led to significant changes in Chinese cultural values and beliefs, lifestyles, population patterns, parenting practices, and social control. All the changes constitute a unique context in which youth gangs have emerged as a public concern in China. The study also explores the characteristics and progression of youth gangs in China using available information. It concludes with discussions of China’s control strategies on youth gangs and the limitations of gang research in China. Details: Loretto, PA: Saint Francis University, 2009. 31p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 21, 2013 at: http://graduateinstitute.ch/webdav/site/ccdp/shared/5039/Zhang-China-gang-paper.pdf Year: 2009 Country: China Keywords: Juvenile Offenders Shelf Number: 129040 |
Author: De Senna Fernandes, Linda Micaela Monteiro Title: Residential Burglary in Macao: A Rational Choice Analysis Summary: This thesis is based on an evaluation of 1,060 cases of residential burglary in Macao in the years 2001, 2002 and 2003. Using official data sources supplemented by interviews, self-reported measures and on-site observations, the analyses are aimed to see if the rational choice perspective can be used to explain the situation of residential burglary in Macao, thereby acquiring more background information concerning such criminal act. Such study makes use of the distribution pattern of hotspots for residential burglary, the time of the offence, the characteristics of the victims particularly their lifestyles and the characteristics of the dwellings within the neighbourhoods that are prone to such criminal act. Research findings reveal that the rational choice perspective provides an analytical tool to understanding certain aspects of residential burglary in Macao. The relevance of this perspective comes into play when burglars in Macao appear to make rational choice when selecting their offence locations as well as targets. For instance, burglars in Macao tend to choose i) neighbourhoods that are closer to their home base; ii) buildings that are comparatively vulnerable and within reach; iii) buildings that are near to ground-level stores that facilitate their target selection processes; iv) dwellings that are left unoccupied and are less visible to neighbours and passers by and v) time period that secures the absence of capable guardians (such as 12:01 - 18:00) if not the vulnerability of them (03:01 - 06:00). Whatever the degree of rationality, however, research findings also reveal that the rational choice perspective is limited to the extent that it cannot explain certain features in Macao. For instance, the perspective fails to explain why it is not necessary, in the situation of Macao, to ensure the presence of suitable targets existing all at once, why higher population density, higher neighbourhood's average income, higher transient population and higher individual's confinement to their routine daily activities are not associated with higher burglary rate in certain neighbourhoods. Indeed, the limitations of the rational choice perspective is owed, to a large extent, to the fact that the perspective is derived from Western studies and that Macao has its own unique geographical settings as well as cultural background that are seen to play a vital role in the determination of such distinctive pattern of residential burglary. Hence, although this research serves to flesh out the use of the rational choice perspective in assessing the validity of the choice criteria for residential burglary, it implores that other theoretical perspectives like social disorganisation theory, the routine activity and situational opportunity theories be used should the rational choice perspective be taken further. In addition, the discrepancy thus put forward suggests that crime prevention strategies should be divided into location-focused, dwelling-focused, victim-focused and offender-focused interventions in order to improve the current measures against residential burglary in Macao. Details: Hong Kong: University of Hong Kong, 2007. 311p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed November 11, 2013. at: http://hub.hku.hk/handle/10722/52680 Year: 2007 Country: China Keywords: Crime Prevention Shelf Number: 131612 |
Author: Whitcraft, Samantha Title: The Continuing Threat to Manta and Mobula Rays: 2013-14 Market Surveys, Guangzhou, China Summary: Listed by the IUCN as 'Vulnerable', the primary threat to the Manta species is unsustainable fisheries driven by a growing demand for their gills used in a medically unproven 'health tonic'. New data showing their acute biological vulnerability and the rapid escalation of threats to their populations indicate an urgent priority to conserve manta rays and their close relatives, mobula rays. Although already known to be among the slowest to reproduce of all sharks and rays, newer data on manta ray reproduction suggest that they may reproduce even more slowly than previously believed, with a maximum lifetime reproduction potential estimated at only 5 to 15 offspring. Such extremely low reproductive capacity shows that manta and mobula rays are far more vulnerable to exploitation than previously known, and that immediate investment in their conservation is necessary to avoid continued rapid declines. Research conducted by WildAid, our partners, The Manta Trust and others, has uncovered new evidence of a rapidly escalating threat to manta ray species from increased demand for their gill plates, primarily in Guangzhou, China. Fishermen in key range states (e.g. Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Peru, etc.) report sharp declines in catches despite increased fishing effort. Further indication of manta population declines is evidenced by traders reporting increased difficulty in sourcing manta gill plates and prices more than doubling over the previous two years as supply has plummeted. Moving forward our goals are to: ◦Use existing methodology, networks, and contacts from our China shark fin campaign to raise awareness in China of the impacts of manta gill plate consumption and urgency of manta ray conservation, and measurably reduce demand for gill plates in China, ultimately working towards ending the gill plate trade in Guangzhou. ◦Pursue legal protection for manta and mobula rays in key range countries. ◦Support implementation of manta and mobula protections through community outreach and enforcement strategies. Details: San Francisco, CA: WildAid, 2014. 13p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 13, 2014 at: http://www.wildaid.org/sites/default/files/resources/The%20Continuing%20Threat%20to%20Manta-Mobula%20Rays_2013-14%20Report_FINAL.pdf Year: 2014 Country: China Keywords: Illegal Wildlife Trade Shelf Number: 133032 |
Author: WildAid Title: Ivory Demand in China Summary: Elephants are primarily poached for their ivory, which comes from the tusks of all African and male Asian elephants, and is used for carvings, jewelry, chopsticks, and other crafts. While the use of ivory dates back hundreds of years, scientists believe ivory has been processed on an industrial scale in the last century to supply markets in the U.S., Europe, and recently Asia. In 2007, African elephant populations were approximately 500,000-700,000, while the estimated global Asian elephant population was 30,000-50,000. In 1976, the African elephant was listed under Appendix II of the UN Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), designed to control and limit trade, while in 1975 the Asian elephant was listed on CITES Appendix I, prohibiting international trade. However, the CITES regulatory system was subject to widespread abuse and African elephant populations fell from more than 1.2 million to roughly 600,000 by 1989. During the 1980s, a decade referred to as the "Ivory Wars", at least 700,000 elephants were slaughtered throughout Africa as legal trade enabled large-scale laundering of ivory from poached elephants. Details: San Francisco: WildAid, 2014. 7p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 14, 2014 at: http://www.wildaid.org/sites/default/files/resources/WEBReportIvoryDemandinChina2014.pdf Year: 2017 Country: China Keywords: Animal Poaching Shelf Number: 133071 |
Author: Ferchen, Matthew Glen Title: Regulating Market Order in China: Economic Ideas, Marginal Markets and the State Summary: Both inside and outside of China, debates rage about the capacity of the state to effectively govern the economy. In the West, those who claim that the Chinese state is rapidly improving its ability to effectively regulate the expanding market economy face off against those who insist that economic liberalization has ushered in a period of deteriorating state capacity to control those very market forces the state itself has unleashed. Within China, a similarly contentious debate over how the state should best govern the economy pits neoliberal champions of naturally orderly market forces against New Left critics who call for strong central state authority to rein in unregulated markets. I argue that any understanding of Chinese state capacity remains incomplete unless the crucial role of ?market order? as a concept of governance is taken into account. Market order refers to the balance between markets as the primary engine of economic growth and the maintenance of economic, social, and political stability. Any measure of state capacity must be judged relative to the goals the state itself promotes. I argue that the state's capacity to maintain market order, especially over certain markets within the so-called ?informal economy,? involves unexpected combinations of strength and weakness. Furthermore, because maintaining market order is promoted as one of the state's key goals, it is key to state legitimation efforts. The very ambiguity of market order makes it a powerful tool of governance at different levels of politics and the economy. However, that same ambiguity played a part in one of the state?s own regulatory institutions becoming a threat to these larger legitimation efforts. This dissertation also presents detailed empirical evidence of Chinese state-economy relations based on the relationship between street vendors and the local City Appearance Administration in the city of Nanjing. The findings presented in the dissertation are based on three years of field research in China, including over 250 formal and informal interviews with government officials from central ?Leading Groups? all the way down to local ?street offices,? with academics and leading intellectuals, and with street vendors and small business owners. Details: Ithaca, NY: Cornell University, 2008. 354p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed January 20, 2015 at: http://ecommons.library.cornell.edu/bitstream/1813/9418/1/January%203rd%20Final%20PDF%20of%20Dissertation.pdf Year: 2008 Country: China Keywords: Businesses and Crime Shelf Number: 134418 |
Author: Yu, Xiao Title: Moving Targets: Tracking Online Sales of Illegal Wildlife Products in China Summary: Transactions for illegal wildlife products, particularly ivory, are shifting away from online retailers and onto social media platforms according to TRAFFIC's research into the Chinese-language online retail community. This is a key finding of a new report, Moving targets: Tracking online sales of illegal wildlife products in China, which discloses the results of routine market monitoring of China's online retailers that began in 2006 and is released today, World Wildlife Day. At its peak in March 2012, more than 4,000 new advertisements per month for illegal wildlife products were appearing online on Chinese language online retail websites, finds the new report. More than half of the illegal products offered comprised ivory items. However, following advertisement removal and blocking of code words used to describe illegal products through regular exchange with e-commerce and enforcement agencies by TRAFFIC, this fell dramatically to around 1,500 from July 2012 and has remained around that level ever since. One change has been an increase in the number of code words used by sellers to conceal the identity of their goods, from 15 code words used in 2012 to 64 identified and monitored by TRAFFIC today. At least 22 code words exist for ivory, including terms such as "African materials, yellow materials, white plastic, jelly". All 64 code words are searched each month by TRAFFIC on 25 e-commerce and antique selling websites for eight wildlife products - ivory, rhino horn, Tiger bone, hawksbill shells, pangolin scales, leopard bones, Saiga horn and Hornbill casques. There has also been evidence of the move to social media, where dealers release photos and information about illegal wildlife products in order to attract and interact with potential customers. Some dealers also use "agents" to extend their audiences by re-posting the information about illegal wildlife products onto their own social media platform. Details: Cambridge, UK; TRAFFIC International, 2015. 10p. Source: Internet Resource: Traffic Briefing: Accessed April 15, 2015 at: http://www.traffic.org/storage/China-monitoring-report.pdf Year: 2015 Country: China Keywords: Computer Crimes Shelf Number: 135232 |
Author: Human Rights Watch Title: Tiger Chairs and Cell Bosses: Police Torture of Criminal Suspents in China Summary: After cases of police brutality against criminal suspects emerged in 2009 and 2010, China's government announced new measures to curb torture and wrongful convictions. These included restrictions on the conduct of interrogations and prohibitions on using detainee "cell bosses" to oversee other detainees. The Ministry of Public Security claims that the use of coerced confessions has dropped significantly as a result of the reforms. Tiger Chairs and Cell Bosses- based primarily on an analysis of hundreds of newly published court decisions and interviews with recent detainees, family members, lawyers, and former officials-finds that the measures adopted between 2009 and 2013 have not gone nearly far enough to fully address abusive interrogations. Some police officers deliberately thwart the new protections by taking detainees from official detention facilities or by using torture methods that leave no visible injuries. Procurators and judges may ignore clear evidence of mistreatment, rendering China's new "exclusionary rule" - which prohibits the use of evidence directly obtained through torture - of little benefit. Police torture of suspects in pre-trial detention remains a serious concern. Former detainees described physical and psychological torture, including being forced to spend days shackled to a "tiger chair," hung by the wrists, and deprived of sleep for prolonged periods. While measures adopted since 2009 appear to have reduced certain abuses, they are being grafted onto a criminal justice system that still offers police numerous opportunities to abuse suspects and affords the police enormous power to resist any judicial supervision. Absent more fundamental reforms in the Chinese criminal justice system that empower defense lawyers, the judiciary, and independent monitors, the elimination of routine torture and ill-treatment is unlikely. Details: New York: HRW, 2015. 143p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 13, 2015 at: http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/china0515_ForUpload.pdf Year: 2015 Country: China Keywords: Human Rights Abuses Shelf Number: 135632 |
Author: Gu, Lion Title: The Mobile Cybercriminal Underground Market in China Summary: The mobile Web is significantly changing the world. More and more people are replacing their PCs with various mobile devices for both work and entertainment. This change in consumer behavior is affecting the cybercriminal underground economy, causing a so-called "mobile underground" to emerge. This research paper provides a brief overview of some basic underground activities in the mobile space in China. It describes some of the available mobile underground products and services with their respective prices. Note that the products and services and related information featured in this paper were obtained from various sites and QQ chats. Details: Irving, TX: Trend Micro, 2014. 17p. Source: Internet Resource: Cybercriminal Underground Economy Series: Accessed May 15, 2015 at: http://www.trendmicro.com/cloud-content/us/pdfs/security-intelligence/white-papers/wp-the-mobile-cybercriminal-underground-market-in-china.pdf Year: 2014 Country: China Keywords: Computer Crime Shelf Number: 135688 |
Author: Gu, Lion Title: The Chinese Underground in 2013 Summary: Places in the Internet where cybercriminals converge to sell and buy different products and services exist. Instead of creating their own attack tools from scratch, they can instead purchase what they need from peers who offer competitive prices. Like any other market, the laws of supply and demand dictate prices and feature offerings. But what's more interesting to note is that recently, prices have been going down. Over the years, we have been keeping tabs on major developments in the cybercriminal underground in an effort to stay true to our mission - to make the world safe for the exchange of digital information. Constant monitoring of cybercriminal activities for years has allowed us to gather intelligence to characterize the more advanced markets we have seen so far and to come up with comprehensive lists of offerings in them. The barriers to launching cybercrime have decreased. Toolkits are becoming more available and cheaper; some are even offered free of charge. Prices are lower and features are richer. Underground forums are thriving worldwide, particularly in Russia, China, and Brazil. These have become popular means to sell products and services to cybercriminals in the said countries. Cybercriminals are also making use of the Deep Web to sell products and services outside the indexed or searchable World Wide Web, making their online "shops" harder for law enforcement to find and take down. All of these developments mean that the computing public is at risk of being victimized more than ever and must completely reconsider how big a part security should play in their everyday computing behaviors. We have been continuously monitoring the Chinese underground market since 2011. And by the end of 2013, we have seen more than 1.4 million instant chat messages related to activities in the market from QQ Groups alone. This research paper reviews these millions of messages, along with trends observed and product and service price updates seen in the Chinese underground market throughout 2013. Details: Irving, TX: Trend Micro, 2014. 21p. Source: Internet Resource: Cybercriminal Underground Economy Series: Accessed May 16, 2015 at: http://www.trendmicro.com/cloud-content/us/pdfs/security-intelligence/white-papers/wp-the-chinese-underground-in-2013.pdf Year: 2014 Country: China Keywords: Computer Crime Shelf Number: 135691 |
Author: Zhang, Sheldon X. Title: A People's War: China's Struggle to Contain its Illicit Drug Problem Summary: Key Findings - China faces a growing problem of illicit drug use. Drug addiction is considered personal failure and addicts are highly stigmatized. Drug addiction does not receive much public sympathy or priority in government funding. - The number of officially registered drug addicts totals about 2.5 million, having increased every year since the government's first annual drug enforcement report in 1998. - In recent years, synthetic drugs such as crystal methamphetamine and ketamine, have become more popular than heroin which was previously dominant. - Illegal opium cultivation no longer exist in China because of strong state control of land use and extensive domestic surveillance. - Myanmar is believed to be the single largest supplier of China's drug market. In 2013, 92.2 percent of the heroin and 95.2 percent of methamphetamine seized in China were traced to Myanmar. - Intravenous drug use significantly contributes to the spread of Hepatitis and HIV. - Drug treatment is mostly administered by the criminal justice system through enrollment in compulsory detoxification centers for first-timers and imprisonment in "education-through-labor" camps for repeat offenders. - More humane approaches are emerging. Methadone maintenance therapy (MMT) clinics have been increasing rapidly across the country and needle exchange programs are being used to prevent the spread of HIV. - The cost of delivering treatment is a key factor in developing effective substance abuse treatment. - Penalties for drug distribution and trafficking remain harsh, and include a frequent use of the death penalty. - Using an extensive network of informants, interdiction efforts focus on major drug trafficking organizations. Policy Recommendations - China should accelerate its experiment with the decriminalization of substance abuse and apply a public health approach to the treatment of addicts. - China needs to promote evidence-based treatment programs based on scientific research and rigorous evaluation. - China needs to establish a reliable drug market forecast system, which combines chemical composition analysis, reports and urine tests of arrested drug abusing offenders, and community informants on illicit drug use trends and pricing information. - China should increase the efficiency of its international collaboration and insulate its counter-narcotic programs from global politics Details: Washington, DC: Brookings Institute, 2015. 15p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 8, 2015 at: http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/Research/Files/Papers/2015/04/global-drug-policy/A-Peoples-War-final.pdf?la=en Year: 2015 Country: China Keywords: Drug Abuse and Addiction Shelf Number: 135959 |
Author: Moyle, Brendan Title: The Black Market in China for Tiger Products Summary: China is an important source of demand for tiger products. Given most wild tiger populations are found in neighboring Asian states, criminal organizations have developed to procure, transport and distribute tiger products. Their organizational form adjusts to reduce the most significant transaction cost faced at each stage in the supply chain. Procurement is subcontracted to skilled local hunters. Tiger forms a minority part of a wider portfolio of wildlife harvested by poachers. Transport to the Chinese border is the largest cost and minimized by use scale economies to transport wildlife products in bulk. Successful criminal organizations have evaded detection for years. In China Tibet absorbs of the demand for skin, while bone is consumed as medicine in Eastern provinces. There is not an homogeneous black market in tiger parts in China. Harsh penalties in China for tiger trafficking favor networks that specialize in the distribution of just tiger bone, with few intermediaries and likely in secretive settings. Transaction costs limit the penetration of tiger parts to provinces that are proximate to range states. The ability of law enforcement agencies to reduce poaching to safe levels appears unlikely given the evasions strategies available to smugglers. Details: Auckland, NZ: Department of Commerce, Massey University, 2008. 30p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 5, 2015 at: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1294907 Year: 2008 Country: China Keywords: Animal Poaching Shelf Number: 136683 |
Author: Biddulph, Sarah Title: Punishments in the Post Re-Education Through Labour World: Questions About Minor Crime in China Summary: As controversial as it was during its lifetime, the administrative detention power of Re-education through Labour (RETL) after its abolition has continued to create waves in the Chinese system of punishments. RETL was abolished without putting a clear alternative power or powers in its place. In the post-RETL world a number of basic questions about the scope and structure of China's system of punishments remain unresolved. What gaps, if any, has abolition of RETL left in the system of punishments? If these gaps exist, what measures, if any, will fill them? This paper first examines the question of whether there is a gap in the system of punishments left by abolition of RETL, and if so what it looks like. It goes on to discuss reforms in criminal and administrative law and debates circulating around the two concepts of minor crime and security punishments. Details: Melbourne: Melbourne Law School, 2015. 26p. Source: Internet Resource: U of Melbourne Legal Studies Research Paper No. 719 : Accessed October 8, 2015 at: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2664864 Year: 2015 Country: China Keywords: Hard Labor Shelf Number: 136965 |
Author: Nan, Jiang Title: A Crime Pattern Analysis of the Illegal Ivory Trade in China Summary: The illegal ivory trade fuels illegal elephant poaching in both Africa and Asia. The illegal ivory trade in China is considered a key threat to the survival of the elephant species: since 2009, China has become the largest illegal ivory market in the world. Although China has uncovered a great number of cases of illegal ivory trade with the seizure of illegal ivory in the past decade, this trade is still growing. A deeper understanding of the nature and patterns of illegal ivory trade through an analysis of ivory seizure data should improve the efficiency of efforts to prevent the illegal ivory trade in China. This paper analyses data on 106 seizures of illegal ivory that was collected from Chinese news reports between 1999 and 2014, with a particular focus on its frequency and illegal trade 'hotspot' locations in China. The analysis found three illegal ivory trade cycles (2001-2005, 2006-2010, and 2011-2014) and four hotspots. Preventing the illegal ivory trade will require more international cooperation and coordination between China and other countries. Details: Acton, ACT, AUS: Transnational Environmental Crime Project, Australian National University, 2015. 17p. Source: Internet Research: TEC Project Working Paper 1/2015: Accessed October 19, 2015 at: http://ips.cap.anu.edu.au/sites/default/files/IPS/IR/TEC/TEC%20Working%20Paper%201-2015.pdf Year: 2015 Country: China Keywords: Animal Poaching Shelf Number: 136999 |
Author: International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) Title: Ivory Market in China - China Ivory Trade Survey Report Summary: China has historically been a significant destination for illicit trade in ivory and was identified as the single most important influence on the increasing trend in illegal trade in ivory since 19951. The problem of illegal ivory trade in China is exacerbated by its burgeoning economy, the increase in consumer power and the easier and freer assess to ivory in other elephant range countries in the free trade environment. This report looks into both the legal and illegal ivory trade in China, in the hopes of providing important information to support wildlife law enforcement and China's implementation of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora (CITES). Details: Yarmouth Port, MA: IFAW, 2006. 25p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 16, 2015 at: http://www.ifaw.org/sites/default/files/Ivory%20Market%20in%20China%20China%20ivory%20trade%20survey%20report%20-%202006.pdf Year: 2006 Country: China Keywords: Endangered Species Shelf Number: 137302 |
Author: Crosta, Andrea Title: Blending Ivory: China's Old Loopholes, New Hopes Summary: A report on an undercover investigation in mainland China and Hong Kong in an effort to expose the areas where illegal ivory opportunistically enters the legal ivory market, and where China's legal trade system and legal businesses are exploited to launder illegal ivory onto the legal market. The investigation was performed over a 10-month period in 2015. EAL investigators conducted two field missions to Hong Kong and four field missions to mainland China using various stories to garner meetings with ivory traders and other industry insiders. The team made extensive use of undercover filming and set up a series of entities to legitimize these back-stories. A few highlights from the report include: - Legitimate businesses and business people participate in and facilitate the laundering of illicit ivory through the legal ivory market by such means as 1) importing supposedly pre-ban, antique, and trophy hunting ivory, 2) the manipulation of the ivory registration system within China, 3) trading ivory privately and illegally without following the government's guidelines and restrictions, and 4) the use of the existing huge illegal raw ivory stocks (>1,000 tons) in the hands of a few traders. - Chinese traders now import ivory mainly via Hong Kong (or purchase worked ivory in Hong Kong), "legalize" it, and re-export the ivory to mainland China. - The company Beijing Mammoth Art Co LTD (ivory imports, retail sales, carving factory, trophy hunting), one of the most powerful ivory traders in China, and chosen as the main target of this investigation, confirmed to EAL investigators that they are connected to a company in Hong Kong called Tung's Carving Gallery (Tung Pit Wang), to import and work ivory in Hong Kong. The trader then re-exports the worked ivory to his business in Beijing to avoid Chinese ivory quotas and to facilitate import permitting. According to a source very familiar with the ivory industry (a maker of ivory carving machines) Beijing Mammoth Art also provides ivory to around 300 illegal small carving facilities in and around Beijing. - Among the galaxy of various connections, Beijing Mammoth Art is also linked to Beijing Tian Hao Bo Rui International Sports Exchange LTD (another importer in Beijing), Safari Taxidermy in Limpopo Province, South Africa, and another company, supposedly owned by Beijing Mammoth's "boss," that brokered the purchase and importation of live elephants to Chimelong Safari Park in Guangzhou from Zimbabwe. - Data shows how during the past two years Beijing Mammoth Art and Beijing Tian Hao Bo Rui have been importing ivory and trophies from all over Africa, including South Africa, Central African Republic, Mozambique, Somalia, Sudan and Tanzania. - According to our sources, over 1,000 metric tons of illegal ivory is being stockpiled in secret locations and warehouses in China by investors and traders who, regardless what the Chinese government decides, are still betting on future profits. - Through their trophy hunting connections in South Africa, the associates of Beijing Mammoth Art are apparently able to import rhino horns using a new method. After the rhino has been killed the whole animal is preserved by a taxidermist as a trophy. The full body mount is then sent to China and is imported legally as a hunting trophy. Once inside the country the real horn is removed and replaced with a fake one. - Rhino horn was available for sale in every facility visited by the investigative team. Rhino horn is still in high demand throughout China, with traders indicating they can sell it as quickly as they can acquire it. - EAL investigators also assessed the availability of other rare wildlife products because at the demand end of the trade chain (China), ivory traders consistently deal with multiple wildlife products. An ivory carver and trader in Beijing - also a collector of hunting trophies and rare wildlife products from around the world - also showed EAL investigators tiger teeth and tiger bone wine. Objects made of rhino horn and tiger teeth were showed to EAL investigators multiple times, often as pictures via the app WeChat. - There is evidence that the social pressure to end the ivory trade from the international community, and now the Chinese government, is mounting and having an effect on the market. Ivory traders in China were supposedly scheduled to meet in November of 2015 to discuss the future of the ivory trade, both legal and illegal. - We do want to express our appreciation to the Chinese government for its agreement to work toward closing down the domestic ivory trade, heightening efforts to reduce both the legal and illegal ivory markets, continuing efforts to reduce demand, and pledging to help solve the elephant poaching crisis. "One of the major findings of this report is an apparently growing uneasiness among illegal ivory traffickers in China to continue with their business," says Andrea Crosta, Executive Director of EAL. "There's a huge quantity of illegal ivory in China, over 1,000 tons, and it's unclear how to deal with it, but the traders are discussing, for the first time, the future of the ivory trade, both legal and illegal. There may be reason to have hope that the tide is finally turning in favor of elephants in Africa. Now it's in the hands of President Xi Jinping" he concludes. Also of significance is an alarming amount of rhino horn that is apparently readily available in China; the EAL investigation team was offered rhino horn at every facility they visited. "The traders we spoke with claim that they can sell rhino horn as quickly as they can get their hands on it," says Crosta. "Other wildlife products - tiger wine, tiger bone wine - are also readily available and easily obtainable." The undercover footage collected over the course of this investigation will be publicly shared following the premiere of the feature documentary 'Ivory' in May 2016. The documentary, produced by Terra Mater Factual Studios and Microsoft Co-Founder Paul G. Allen's Vulcan Productions, will reveal the fight against poachers and traffickers across Africa and Asia unlike any other documentary previously made. The film follows the ivory supply chain and will include EAL's investigation into the blending of China's legal and illegal ivory markets. Details: Los Angeles: Elephant Action League, 2015. 45p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 4, 2016 at: http://elephantleague.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/EAL-BLENDING-IVORY-Report-Dec2015.pdf Year: 2015 Country: China Keywords: Animal Poaching Shelf Number: 137759 |
Author: Cameron, Lisa Title: China's Sex Ratio and Crime: Behavioral Change or Financial Necessity? Summary: This paper uses survey and experimental data from prison inmates and comparable non-inmates to examine the drivers of rising criminality in China. Consistent with socio-biological research on other species, we find that China's high sex-ratios are associated with greater risk-taking and impatience amongst males. These underlying behavioral impacts explain some part of the increase in criminality. The primary avenue through which the sex-ratio increases crime, however, is the direct pressure on men to appear financially attractive in order to find a partner in the marriage market. These marriage market pressures result in a higher propensity to commit financially rewarding crimes. Details: Bonn, Germany: Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), 2016. 38p. Source: Internet Resource: IZA Discussion Paper No. 9747: Accessed March 2, 2016 at: http://ftp.iza.org/dp9747.pdf Year: 2016 Country: China Keywords: Crime Rates Shelf Number: 138021 |
Author: Vigne, Lucy Title: China Faces a Conservation Challenge: The Expanding Elephant and Mammoth Ivory Trade in Beijing and Shanghai Summary: The Chinese ivory industry has been expanding tremendously, especially in the last five years. Illegal ivory imports are the largest in the world by weight and have been soaring; the wholesale price of raw tusks sold for carving has tripled since 2010; the number of official ivory carving factories has risen several-fold; the number of carvers is way up, the number of legal (licensed) retail outlets for elephant ivory has increased significantly as has the number of illegal (unlicensed) outlets selling elephant ivory; there has been a boom in customers for elephant ivory, both legal and illegal, both raw and worked, especially by collectors and investors in China; retail prices for ivory items have skyrocketed; and some businesspeople are optimistic about future economic benefits of trading in ivory. Law enforcement has not kept up with this huge expansion in the illegal ivory industry in China, where it is the largest in the world. The mammoth ivory industry has also expanded; this trade is legal. In China the growth in tusk imports, wholesale prices, carving, the number of retail outlets and the number of mammoth ivory items for sale has been significant. With the rising wealth in the country, more customers have been buying mammoth ivory. Retail ivory prices have skyrocketed, and traders are confident in the future of the industry because of the increase in demand. Although trade in mammoth ivory is legal, some traders are using it as a cover for selling elephant ivory in Beijing and Shanghai. Details: Nairobi, Kenya: Save the Elephants; Kent, UK: The Aspinall Foundation, 2014. 92p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 13, 2016 at: http://savetheelephants.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/2014_ChinaConservationChallenge.pdf Year: 2014 Country: China Keywords: Elephants Shelf Number: 139015 |
Author: UBS Optimus Foundation Title: Sexual victimization of children and adolescents in China Summary: This report focuses on the results of the Optimus Study in China. It examines the prevalence of sexual victimization among children and adolescents in China, risk and protective factors for CSV, and its impact on children's physical and mental health. As an introduction to the findings of this study, the first chapter gives a brief overview of the legal background and child welfare services in China, methodological issues in CSV research there, and previous studies of CSV in Chinese societies. Details: Zurich, SWIT: UBS Optimus Foundation, 2013. 40p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 13, 2016 at: http://www.optimusstudy.org/fileadmin/user_upload/documents/2013/China/OptimusStudy_China_FullReport_2013.pdf Year: 2013 Country: China Keywords: Adolescent Sexual Abuse Shelf Number: 139404 |
Author: Asia Catalyst Title: "Custody and Education": Arbitrary Detention of Female Sex Workers in China Summary: D Based on research in Beijing and Shanghai, China this report focuses on the daily life, working conditions, access to services, and legal frameworks for transgender female sex workers in China. Transgender female sex workers face a broad array of discrimination in social and policy frameworks, preventing this highly marginalized group's access to a wide spectrum of services and legal protections. They experience amplified stigma due to both their gender identity and their profession. Isolated and often humiliated when seeking public services, particularly in health care settings, has also led many to self-medicate and engage in dangerous transitioning practices, including on self-administered hormone use. In China, transgender people do not necessarily face outright legal penalties, but the absence of non- discrimination laws and lack of enforcement of overarching policies on non-discriminatory access to healthcare and HIV related services, means they are left without effective protection. As sex work is illegal in China, transgender sex workers are further oppressed by the police and, due to social and other factors, engage in high risk activities that put them at increased risk of HIV and STD infection. The research for this report illuminates that the community of female presenting sex workers is very complex and includes men who have sex with men, transgender individuals, and transsexuals. Their vulnerabilities to HIV and their varied health needs need to be carefully assessed, strategically targeted, and addressed. As China is in the process of drafting a new HIV/AIDS action plan for 2016-2020, now is a good opportunity to develop a specific strategy on HIV prevention and care for the transgender community. Details: New York: Asia Catalyst, 2013. 48p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 1, 2016 at: http://www.asiacatalyst.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/AsiaCatalyst_CustodyEducation2013-12-EN.pdf Year: 2013 Country: China Keywords: Prostitutes Shelf Number: 139926 |
Author: Asia Catalyst Title: The Condom Quandary: A Study of the Impact of Law Enforcement Practices on Effective HIV Prevention among Male, Female, and Transgender Sex Workers in China Summary: Sex work is illegal in China, and law enforcement practices that focus on condoms as evidence of prostitution are having a negative impact on HIV prevention among sex workers. When Lanlan, who runs a community based organization (CBO) and support group for sex workers in northern China, introduced female condoms to the female sex workers she works with as part of her CBO's HIV and sexual and reproductive health (SRH) program, their first reaction was: "The female condom is too big. We can't swallow it if the police come!" This story highlights the conundrum sex workers in China face when attempting to avoid penalties by law enforcement and protect themselves from sexually transmitted diseases and infections (STIs) and HIV. Details: New York: Asia Catalyst, 2016. 84p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 13, 2016 at: http://asiacatalyst.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/The-Condom-Quandary-Report_en.pdf Year: 2016 Country: China Keywords: Condoms Shelf Number: 146787 |
Author: Pruneda, Olalla Title: Global Study on Sexual Exploitation of Children in Travel and Tourism. County-Specific Report: China Summary: China is home to 274 million children, the second largest child population in the world. Over the past three decades, the country has experienced remarkable progress in poverty alleviation and living standards, including the realisation of universal access to primary education and a drastic reduction in child mortality. However, growing regional disparities and migration are having a great impact on the lives of more than 100 million Chinese children today. Of them, 36 million have migrated to the cities with their parents with no right to education or health care services in the urban areas where they live. Meanwhile, nearly 70 million of them have become the so-called "left-behind children", in the care of relatives in their home villages. Away from the protection of their parents or unable to register as legal residents of China's cities, they are the most vulnerable children in China today, running the risk of being trafficked, sexually exploited or dragged into other forms of forced labour. With 14 per cent of the world's children, the "high prevalence of sexual exploitation and abuse against children, including rape" in China is an issue of paramount importance for all concerned with children's wellbeing. In the midst of China's outstanding economic growth and the resulting deep social transformations, a new trend is emerging which places new challenges for the protection of children. It is the growth of China's domestic tourism market and the country's consolidation as the fastest-growing tourism source market on a global scale. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Today nearly one in ten tourists in the world is Chinese. All forecasts suggest that the growing trend will continue over the next few years and "will surely continue to change the map of world tourism", in the words of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai. Chinese travellers are the biggest spenders globally since 2012. Neighbouring countries and regions are expected to remain as the preferred destinations for Chinese tourists in the coming years, with Hong Kong, Macau, South Korea, Thailand and Taiwan leading the way at present. Within China, domestic travel spending (90.9 per cent) is far more important than foreign visitor spending (9.1 per cent). Furthermore, the economic weight of the domestic tourism and travel sector keeps growing, generating 9.3 per cent of its GDP and employing 64.4 million Chinese in 2013.9 Tourism development is mostly taking place in ethnic minority regions such as Yunnan, Sichuan and Tibet, drawing on the folklorisation of these groups by representing them as an 'exotic' other. In the light of this ethnic tourism trend, the local population of ethnic minority areas appear to pin their hopes of further economic development on the increasing arrival of urban Han Chinese. The conflation of these trends with growing regional disparities, which are leading hundreds of millions to move to China's cities and industrial areas in search of a better job, create an unprecedented challenge to ensure the protection of children's rights. In addition, a traditional preference for sons has resulted in a skewed sex ratio of 118 boys born for every 100 girls as of 2014. As a result of this preference and the in 2015 abolished one-child policy, Chinas population appears to be "aging and increasingly male". This seems to suggest that the demand for prostitution and forced marriages will most likely keep increasing over the coming decades. With the country's economic growth, its entertainment industry has developed rapidly on the more developed eastern coast of the country as well as in tourist spots across the country. China's business culture involves frequenting entertainment venues as a necessary step in building trust among business partners. The presence of teenagers in entertainment venues where sex services are offered to tourists and travellers seems a recurrent problem as Chinese society sees an erosion of the family values rooted in the Confucian tradition. However, we still have very limited data on the magnitude and features of this growing problem in China. Further research is needed to better understand who are the children most adversely affected, who are the offenders and how they operate, as well as what else can be done to enhance the protection of children's rights. In early 2015, important steps are being taken to remove the stigmatising "soliciting underage prostitution" crime to replace it for statutory rape. However, the Criminal Law still makes no specific reference to the crime of facilitating the prostitution of boys under 18 or girls between 14 and 18 years of age. This report aims to shed new light on the heinous crime of sexual exploitation of children in travel and tourism in China and by Chinese travellers abroad by reviewing research conducted to date by academics, governments, international organisations and NGOs. It hopes to help identify the gaps of what we know about this phenomenon at present in order to encourage further research and improve existing laws and policies to better protect children and ensure their recovery and reintegration. It is our shared responsibility. Details: Bangkok: ECPAT International, 2015. 46p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 15, 2016 at: http://globalstudysectt.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/3.-SECTT-CHINA.pdf Year: 2015 Country: China Keywords: Child Pornography Shelf Number: 147888 |
Author: Xu, Ling Title: An Overview of Pangolin Trade in China Summary: KEY points: t All Asian and African pangolin species are listed in CITES Appendix II, and a zero export quota for the international commercial trade of the four Asian pangolin species is in place; t China has regulated the use of pangolin scales. Since 2007, pangolin scales can only be used for clinical applications at designated hospitals and manufacturing of Chinese patented medicines. During the 2008-2015 period, the average annual legal consumption of pangolin scales in China was 26 600 kg; t In June/July 2016, 35% of animal medicine wholesalers, 62% of TCM retail shops, and 153 online advertisements were found to be illegally selling pangolin scales. Most illegal pangolin scales sold at markets in China were from Southeast Asian countries, followed by African countries; t Between 2007 and 2016, there were 209 pangolin seizures in China; 2405 live pangolins, 11 419 dead pangolins and 34 946 kg of scales were seized. Amongst these, Malaysia, Indonesia and Viet Nam were major source countries for whole pangolins; while main sources for smuggled pangolin scales were Nigeria, Cameroon and Myanmar. Details: Cambridge, UK: TRAFFIC, 2016. 11p. Source: Internet Resource: TRAFFIC Briefing: Accessed September 29, 2016 at: http://static1.1.sqspcdn.com/static/f/157301/27254615/1474377211627/Pangolin-trade-in-China-briefing-paper.pdf?token=2e3bmKXfZdrTcqkTP83Tf78OAXM%3D Year: 2016 Country: China Keywords: Endangered Species Shelf Number: 146125 |
Author: Xu, Y. Title: An Act to Save African Elephants: A Ban on Commercial Ivory Trade in China, A Feasibility Study Briefing Summary: Africa's elephants are in crisis. The population of African elephants today are at a record low, with fewer than 500,000 individuals left in the wild, declining from 1.2 million individuals in 1981. The contemporary poaching crisis consolidated in 2010 and since then elephant poaching has escalated to unsustainable levels, leading to a year- on-year decline in many elephant populations - In some parts of Africa, localised extinctions of elephants are actually occurring. The illegal ivory trade is persistent and increasingly well-organised. Reports based on ivory seizures indicate that the volume of illegal ivory trade has tripled since 2007 - Meanwhile, the African elephant crisis has stirred the attention of the international community, which in turn has recognized that an historic opportunity to take actions to save Africa's most iconic species is at hand. This sense of commitment has resonated also in China. In May 2015, the head of China's State Forestry Administration announced that "we will strictly control ivory processing and trade until the commercial processing and sale of ivory and its products are eventually halted". In September 2015, during a State visit to the U.S., Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Barrack Obama jointly committed to enact nearly complete bans on ivory import and export, including significant and timely restrictions on the import of ivory as hunting trophies, and to take significant and timely steps to halt the domestic commercial trade of ivory. - Following this momentum, the Chinese government issued a temporary ban on all ivory imports for commercial purposes in March 2016. China has one of the largest illegal ivory markets in the world - Since 2002, the reports of the Elephant Trade Information System to CITES have consistently identified China as the leading destination for ivory globally. China's actions, more than those of any other country, have the potential to reverse the rising trends of elephant poaching and illegal ivory trafficking and have a significant impact on the future survival of African elephants. Therefore, the aim of this current briefing is to provide independent advice and recommendations to the Chinese Government on a possible option that China can consider to address the global problem of illegal ivory trade - a ban on commercial ivory trade in the country. The country's existing ivory trade controls and law enforcement system are examined, in light of the current ivory market in China, as well as the likely impact an ivory trade ban could have. In producing this briefing, WWF and TRAFFIC believe that China can be a leading global example, and provide "best practices" for creating sound policy approaches and time-frames for implementation that will maximize impact on illegal trade and enhance the conservation of elephants. This briefing is a rapid evaluation based on existing knowledge derived from TRAFFIC's monitoring work of the Chinese ivory market. While this is not a comprehensive study, this briefing does outline issues to take into account when examining the need, feasibility and possible implementation challenges involved when considering a ban on commercial ivory trade in China, as well as some next steps needed towards that end. An effective ivory trade ban in the Chinese context will require careful consideration of the particular regulatory mechanisms and implementation structures and processes that will define and support the new domestic policy. WWF and TRAFFIC fully intend to augment this initial briefing document with further in depth studies. Details: Beijing, China: WWF and TRAFFIC, 2016. 16p. Source: Internet Resource: WWF Briefing: Accessed September 29, 2016 at: www.wwfchina.org Year: 2016 Country: China Keywords: Animal Poaching Shelf Number: 140510 |
Author: Ghazi-Tehrani, Adam Kavon Title: Corporate Crime and State Legitimacy: Non-Issue Making in The 2008 Chinese Melamine Milk Scandal Summary: While the study of corporate crime began nearly seventy years ago, academic access to Asian countries, and China in particular, has become available only in the past two decades. The growing economic crime rate in China remains a difficult area of research, but recent studies demonstrate the impact China's economic reform on crime in general. This study aims to apply western corporate crime and state theories to China in an effort to explain both China's economic crime rate and the government's response. This qualitative study draws on information about the 2008 melamine milk scandal from both Chinese and western newspapers, as well as scholarly journals. An analysis of these sources reveals China is similar to the United States of America and other developed nations: economic crime is tolerated if that crime provides a direct benefit for the offending corporation and indirect benefit for the state. China's authoritarian government increases this tolerance as the state is able to both censor the media and use force to prevent social movements, liberties that have a dampening effect on economic crime in western democracies. This implies that without a liberalization of government to match the liberalization of economy, China's economic crime rate will remain high. Details: Irvine, CA: University of California, Irvine, 2011. 50p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 1, 2016 at: http://escholarship.org/uc/item/0gn810gj Year: 2012 Country: China Keywords: Corporate Crime Shelf Number: 145781 |
Author: Treanor, Naomi Basik Title: China's Hongmu Consumption Boom: Analysis of the Chinese Rosewood Trade and Links to Illegal Activity in Tropical Forested Countries Summary: Over the past decade, Chinese demand for classic furniture made from slow-growing hardwood species collectively known as hongmu, encompassing rosewood species and others such as Padauk, has soared. The majority of furniture is both manufactured and consumed within China, as indicated by the trade balance reflecting high levels of log and sawnwood imports and lower levels of roundwood equivalent (RWE) furniture exports. China's rosewood log and sawnwood imports, on an unprecedented rise since 2010, hit an all-time high in 2014, while exports of rosewood products have declined severely. Unfortunately, much of the world's valuable rosewoods are being depleted at an alarming rate, with the global trade in rosewood suffering from high rates of illegal harvesting, transport, and trade. These illegal practices have exacerbated the destruction of complex ecosystems in some of the world’s most biodiverse forests and in many cases have negatively impacted the livelihoods of forest-dependent people who rely on hongmu as a source of fuel and medicine. China is in a unique position to take a leadership role to ensure that only legally and sustainably sourced rosewood enters the country, given the large role that Chinese traders,2 manufacturers, retailers, and consumers play in the global harvesting and trade of rosewood. The Chinese government has already put in place a system of rules and regulations for product quality assurance for the import and processing of rosewood that is enforced by a wide number of government agencies (Box 1), but does not address issues related to sustainable or legal harvesting, transportation, or import of hongmu species. This system could serve as the foundation for more direct action to ensure legality and sustainability. This paper analyzes recent trends in Chinese rosewood trade, using import data from China Customs from 2000 to 2014. It then synthesizes existing literature highlighting widespread violations of national laws and regulations in source countries that are occurring in the harvesting and trade of rosewood, particularly in key countries in Africa and Asia. It concludes with policy recommendations for Chinese policy-makers and other actors, which would foster the trade in legal hongmu species, mainly through use of existing mechanisms and guidelines, but also by increasing coordination with Hong Kong and ensuring better enforcement of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Details: Washington, DC: Forest Trends, 2015. 48p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed December 23, 2016 at: http://www.forest-trends.org/documents/files/doc_5057.pdf Year: 2015 Country: China Keywords: Forest Products Shelf Number: 146423 |
Author: Wang, Chen Title: Which Dimension of Income Distribution Drives Crime? Evidence From the People's Republic of China Summary: Income distribution is perceived to affect crime (Becker 1968; Thurow 1971; Merlo 2003). Consequently, economists have been modeling crime-employing inequality indicators as one of the explanatory variables, yielding mixed results. This paper argues that income polarization rather than inequality should be taken into account in the context of crime analysis. Technically, in addition to income gaps as captured by inequality indicators, the recently developed polarization index of Duclos, Esteban, and Ray (2004) also measures social segregation, which implies immobility and alienation, both of which are closely related to social tensions and conflicts. Thus, this polarization index is expected to be a better variable in explaining crime. To substantiate our arguments, provincial panel data from the People's Republic of China (PRC) are used to model the crime–income distribution relationship. Income polarization is found to be positively and significantly associated with crime. When both income polarization and inequality indicators are included in the models, the former remains a positive and significant determinant while the latter becomes insignificant. Details: Tokyo: Asian Development Bank Institute, 2017. 22p. Source: Internet Resource: ADBI Working Paper Series no. 704: Accessed April 1, 2017 at: https://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/publication/236561/adbi-wp704.pdf Year: 2017 Country: China Keywords: Crime Analysis Shelf Number: 144690 |
Author: Crosta, Andrea Title: Operation Fake Gold: Investigating the Southeast China Totoaba Maw Trade as this Traditional Product is Causing the Extinction of Both the Vaquita and the Totoaba Summary: The vaquita, the world's smallest and most endangered porpoise, is nearly extinct due to China's demand for the swim bladders, or 'maws,' from a giant Mexican fish called the totoaba. By-catch from the Illegal fishing of totoabas with the use of gillnets is killing vaquitas. Traditional Chinese medicine purports swim bladder to be a curative for a variety of ailments causing demand for totoaba swim bladders (called maws) to continue. Unfortunately, less than 30 individual vaquitas remain in the Gulf of California, Mexico, the vaquita's only natural habitat. The totoaba is also considered critically endangered, although current numbers of totoaba is not known. In response to these dire circumstances, Elephant Action League (EAL) commenced an investigation, Operation Fake Gold, into the demand side of the illegal totoaba trade in March 2017. The investigators went undercover in China to collect the most up-to-date intelligence on the totoaba maw trade. Part one of Operation Fake Gold targeted Chinese demand to assess the current level of trade, the attitude of the retailers who illegally sell it, and the price trend. The investigation also aimed to collect leads on how and where totoaba swim bladders (maws) are smuggled into China. The undercover investigation was focused in Guangdong Province, specifically the Shantou area and Nan'ou Island. Primary findings indicate that: - Demand for 'gold coin'/totoaba maws appears to be stable even through the product is illegal, with buyers primarily from Shantou and the greater Guandong Province; - Demand for totoaba maws (and 'gold coin' maw in general) is driven by its use as a business gift, as well as its traditional medicinal uses for personal health and wedding dowries; - 'Gold coin' fish maw pricing varies significantly based on weight, appearance, and whether it is small tube/domestic or big tube/foreign, as well as between shops; - Big tube totoaba maws from Mexico currently average about 140,000 Yuan (RMB) per kg (over USD 20,000 per kg); - Due to its extremely high price, current consumers of totoaba maws are relatively rich Chinese, primarily middle age or older, purchasing the maws for collection and investment purposes; - A primary trafficking route for totoaba swim bladders is from Mexico, at times through the US, and then to Shantou; - Hong Kong and Thailand may also be transit hubs with Shantou and surrounding areas as the final destination; - There is evidence that Chinese nationals and/or residents in Mexico and the US are playing an important role in facilitating the totoaba swim bladder trade; and - Totoaba maws are most commonly shipped hidden within containers of legal fish maw products, such as codfish products. Given the serious constraints and obstacles associated with the totoaba swim bladder trade in Mexico, including possible corruption and involvement of the drug cartels, it is vital to fully research, investigate, and map all aspects of the totoaba supply chain. That is why this is a multi-part investigation targeting multiple countries. The detailed results of Operation Fake Gold will facilitate concrete action by identifying the key players, building actionable case files based on verifiable evidence, and creating pressure on the Chinese, US, and Mexican governments to act appropriately to save vaquitas and totoabas from extinction. Details: Los Angeles: Elephant Action League, 2017. 39p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 25, 2017 at: https://elephantleague.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/EAL-Totoaba-Report-May-2017.pdf Year: 2017 Country: China Keywords: Illegal Fishing Shelf Number: 147435 |
Author: Clark, Ezra Title: Under the Counter: China's Booming Illegal Trade in Ozone Depleting Substances Summary: Executive Summary - The crisis of ozone depletion is still very real. The ozone hole that formed in 2005 reached a maximum size of 25 million km2, slightly smaller than the all time record holes of 2003 and 2000. - The success and integrity of the Montreal Protocol continues to be undermined by a global illegal trade in ozone depleting substances (ODS). - Illicit production of CFCs is a recent and growing threat. - Despite the laudable efforts of the Chinese authorities to control ODS smuggling and illegal production, the country remains the world's major source of illegal ODS. - EIA's investigations have revealed that chemical dealers and brokers in China routinely circumvent government controls, mislabel and mis-declare CFCs in order to smuggle these chemicals around the world. - Some non-Article 5 (developed) countries are still receiving shipments of CFCs from China almost 10 years after consumption was phased out in these countries. - The Montreal Protocol has not addressed the problem of illegal trade in any coherent manner, and the current licensing system for controlling the ODS trade is ineffective and urgently needs to be overhauled and improved. Details: London: EIA, 2005. 20p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed December 5, 2017 at: https://content.eia-global.org/posts/documents/000/000/440/original/Under_The_Counter.pdf?1468525540 Year: 2005 Country: China Keywords: Illegal Trade Shelf Number: 148719 |
Author: Meijer, Wander Title: Demand under the ban - China Ivory Consumption Research Summary: Following the announcement of the ban on commercial processing and trade in elephant ivory by China's State Council on 30 December 2016. TRAFFIC and WWF then commissioned GlobeScan to conduct this largest-ever ivory consumer research in China. This research seeks to discover the nature of ivory consumption in 15 surveyed cities in China, to understand consumers' perception towards the ivory ban and to assess effective messaging and mechanisms for demand reduction. Details: London: TRAFFIC, 2017. 110p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 2, 2018 at: http://static1.1.sqspcdn.com/static/f/157301/27777182/1513160428827/Globescan-China-ivory-consumption-research-2017.pdf?token=myTigEymtSMJkUW7rKS5zOf%2Fa60%3D Year: 2017 Country: China Keywords: Elephants Shelf Number: 148972 |
Author: Pushkarna, Natasha Title: Cultivating a Green Conscience in Corporate Culture: China's Approach to Regulating Corporate Environmental Crime Summary: China's accelerated development in the Post-reform era has led to the deterioration of its environment. Unfettered factories have turned the rivers red and poisonous with their unfiltered waste. Unable to ignore the physical consequences in the face of international criticism, China amended its criminal code to specify and bolster its protection of the environment in 2007. Following these changes, the country has continued to evolve its legal conceptions and approaches to corporate environmental crime, including harsh punitive measures with lengthy prison sentences, and even the possibility of the death penalty. This study incorporates the literature from white-collar criminology, green criminology and regulatory theory in its attempt to understand how China is conceptualizing and approaching corporate environmental crime through its legal system. Using a content analysis of court judgments, legislative documents and news media from Jiangsu province, as well as in-depth interviews of professionals knowledgeable about China's environmental issues, this study finds that within the rhetoric is an attempt by the government to urge corporations to consider maintaining a sustainable environment as part of their duty in their operating processes through both cooperative and punitive methods. The conceit of obligation lines up with the collectivist viewpoint advocated under the primary cultural traditions in China-- Confucianism and communism. Local/state corporations are likely entrenched in these traditions and thus, would be more amenable to this line of thinking when considering participation in deviant acts, such as illegal dumping or the smuggling of waste. At this early stage, corporate compliance appears more rote, but within China's larger plans to form a "green" society this green conscience could be cultivated and provide the pathway to a responsive regulatory system for handling corporate environmental crimes. Details: Irvine, CA: University of California, Irvine, 2015. 226p. Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed May 19, 2018 at: https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4t95j471 Year: 2015 Country: China Keywords: Corporate Crime Shelf Number: 150275 |
Author: Xu, Ling Title: Red Panda Market Research Findings in China Summary: The Red Panda is a national second-class protected species in China-with both hunting and trade prohibited-and is listed in Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). It was upgraded to Endangered on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species in 2015. During April to May 2017, TRAFFIC conducted physical market surveys in areas close to Red Panda habitats (in Sichuan and Yunnan provinces) and an online market survey of Chinese websites. The results showed that only two dealers (one in the physical market and one in the online market) offered Red Panda products, which were allegedly obtained about 30 years ago (before the implementation of China's Wild Animal Protection Law). Most surveyed shopkeepers (60/65) had never heard of or had little knowledge of the species. Interviews with local residents, including members of minority ethnic groups who traditionally use Red Panda products, found that almost all were no longer interested in Red Panda products. According to CITES trade data, the international trade of live Red Pandas and parts between 2005 and 2015 was minimal. However, enforcement records revealed that some demand for Red Pandas as pets and for breeding purposes still exists in China. Ten seizure cases between 2005 and 2016 involved 35 live and seven dead Red Pandas. TRAFFIC encourages other range countries to look for evidence of Red Panda smuggling to China and to conduct similar market surveys to assess the extent of trade on Red Panda populations. Enforcement authorities in China also should increase their efforts to detect and deter illegal trade in Red Pandas. Details: Cambridge, UK: TRAFFIC, 2018. 12p. Source: Internet Resource: Traffic Briefing: Accessed June 26, 2018 at: http://static1.1.sqspcdn.com/static/f/157301/27911569/1526902213083/Red-Panda-briefing-EN.pdf?token=faZQdaoT0DFe7WW7%2BkxtbPA767I%3D Year: 2018 Country: China Keywords: Endangered Species Shelf Number: 150703 |
Author: Hongfa, Xu Title: The State of Wildlife Trade in China: Information on the trade in wild animals and plants in China 2008 Summary: This report is the third in an annual series on emerging trends in China's wildlife trade. that aim to highlight wildlife trade trends in threatened and at-risk wildlife, with an emphasis on the impact of China's trade on globally important biodiversity 'hotspots'. These hotspots have a crucial influence on the survival of endangered species, where conservation action to reduce wildlife trade threats can bring about the greatest benefit. While these hotspots might be problem areas at present, they offer great opportunities for conservation success if action is effective. Topics include the exploitation for trade of tigers and other big cats, the origins of timber imported from Africa and South-East Asia, illegal trade on the China-Myanmar border, the consumption of and trade in freshwater turtles in southern China, and TRAFFIC-led training efforts relating to wild medicinal plants and their use in Chinese traditional medicine. Other topics in this issue include the analysis of wildlife trade information from Hong Kong SAR, the coral trade in East Asia, cross-border enforcement efforts, the illegal online wildlife trade, China's new management regulations covering the coral and ivory trades, and a public awareness campaign aimed at sustainable wildlife consumption. The report found that over-exploitation of wildlife for trade has affected many species and is stimulating illegal trade across China's borders.This report aims to continue TRAFFIC's efforts to encourage sustainable wildlife trade trends in China, informing policymakers, enforcers and consumers. Together, these stakeholders can achieve the vision of a world in which usage of wild plants and animals is managed at sustainable levels while making a significant contribution to human needs. Details: Beijing : TRAFFIC East Asia-China Programme, WWF-China, 2007 and 2008. 2010. 35p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 24, 2018 at: https://portals.iucn.org/library/node/9617 Year: 2008 Country: China Keywords: Illegal Wildlife Trade Shelf Number: 118625 |
Author: Meijer, Wander Title: Demand under the Ban: China Ivory Consumption Research Post-Ban 2018 Summary: The research for this report conducted between May and July 2018 reveals Chinese citizens claim to have purchased significantly less ivory since the ban was implemented. But the incidence of ivory purchase among regular outbound travelers stands out compared to the other buyers' segments. While the results of this research show that the ivory ban in China is generating positive changes, more efforts like strengthening market supervision, law enforcement and public education are recommended for to ensure the long-term success of ivory trade ban. Details: Beijing, China: TRAFFIC and World Wildlife Fund, 2018. 78p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 12, 2018 at: https://c402277.ssl.cf1.rackcdn.com/publications/1179/files/original/Demand_under_the_Ban_-_China_Ivory_Consumption_Research_Post-Ban_2018.pdf?1537976366 Year: 2018 Country: China Keywords: Animal Poaching Shelf Number: 152910 |
Author: D'Acunto, Francesco Title: Punish One, Teach A Hundred: The Sobering Effect of Punishment on the Unpunished Summary: Direct experience of a peer's punishment might make non-punished peers reassess the probability and consequences of facing punishment and hence induce a change in their behavior. We test this mechanism in a setting, China, in which we observe the reactions to the same peer's punishment by listed firms with different incentives to react - state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and non-SOEs. After observing peers punished for wrongdoing in loan guarantees to related parties, SOEs - which are less disciplined by traditional governance mechanisms than non-SOEs - cut their loan guarantees. SOEs whose CEOs have stronger career concerns react more than other SOEs to the same punishment events, a result that systematic differences between SOEs and non-SOEs cannot drive. SOEs react more to events with higher press coverage even if information about all events is publicly available. After peers' punishments, SOEs also increase their board independence, reduce inefficient investment, increase total factor productivity, and experience positive cumulative abnormal returns. The bank debt and investment of related parties that benefited from tunneling drop after listed peers' punishments. Strategic punishments could be a cost-effective governance mechanism when other forms of governance are ineffective. Details: Unpublished paper, 2019. 56p. Source: Internet Resource: Fama-Miller Working Paper; Chicago Booth Research Paper No. 19-06" Accessed May 2, 2019 at: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3330883 Year: 2019 Country: China Keywords: Corporate Crime Shelf Number: 155614 |
Author: Human Rights Watch Title: China's Algorithms of Repression: Reverse Engineering a Xinjiang Police Mass Surveillance App Summary: Since late 2016, the Chinese government has subjected the 13 million ethnic Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in Xinjiang to mass arbitrary detention, forced political indoctrination, restrictions on movement, and religious oppression. Credible estimates indicate that under this heightened repression, up to one million people are being held in "political education" camps. The government's "Strike Hard Campaign against Violent Terrorism" has turned Xinjiang into one of China's major centers for using innovative technologies for social control. This report provides a detailed description and analysis of a mobile app that police and other officials use to communicate with the Integrated Joint Operations Platform (IJOP), one of the main systems Chinese authorities use for mass surveillance in Xinjiang. Human Rights Watch first reported on the IJOP in February 2018, noting the policing program aggregates data about people and flags to officials those it deems potentially threatening; some of those targeted are detained and sent to political education camps and other facilities. But by "reverse engineering" this mobile app, we now know specifically the kinds of behaviors and people this mass surveillance system targets. The findings have broader significance, providing an unprecedented window into how mass surveillance actually works in Xinjiang, because the IJOP system is central to a larger ecosystem of social monitoring and control in the region. They also shed light on how mass surveillance functions in China. While Xinjiang's systems are particularly intrusive, their basic designs are similar to those the police are planning and implementing throughout China. Many - perhaps all - of the mass surveillance practices described in this report appear to be contrary to Chinese law. They violate the internationally guaranteed rights to privacy, to be presumed innocent until proven guilty, and to freedom of association and movement. Their impact on other rights, such as freedom of expression and religion, is profound. Human Rights Watch finds that officials use the IJOP app to fulfill three broad functions: collecting personal information, reporting on activities or circumstances deemed suspicious, and prompting investigations of people the system flags as problematic. Analysis of the IJOP app reveals that authorities are collecting massive amounts of personal information - from the color of a person's car to their height down to the precise centimeter - and feeding it into the IJOP central system, linking that data to the person's national identification card number. Our analysis also shows that Xinjiang authorities consider many forms of lawful, everyday, non-violent behavior - such as "not socializing with neighbors, often avoiding using the front door" - as suspicious. The app also labels the use of 51 network tools as suspicious, including many Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) and encrypted communication tools, such as WhatsApp and Viber. The IJOP app demonstrates that Chinese authorities consider certain peaceful religious activities as suspicious, such as donating to mosques or preaching the Quran without authorization. But most of the other behavior the app considers problematic are ethnic and religion - neutral. Our findings suggest the IJOP system surveils and collects data on everyone in Xinjiang. The system is tracking the movement of people by monitoring the "trajectory" and location data of their phones, ID cards, and vehicles; it is also monitoring the use of electricity and gas stations of everybody in the region. This is consistent with Xinjiang local government statements that emphasize officials must collect data for the IJOP system in a "comprehensive manner" from "everyone in every household." When the IJOP system detects irregularities or deviations from what it considers normal, such as when people are using a phone that is not registered to them, when they use more electricity than "normal," or when they leave the area in which they are registered to live without police permission, the system flags these "micro-clues" to the authorities as suspicious and prompts an investigation. Another key element of IJOP system is the monitoring of personal relationships. Authorities seem to consider some of these relationships inherently suspicious. For example, the IJOP app instructs officers to investigate people who are related to people who have obtained a new phone number or who have foreign links. The authorities have sought to justify mass surveillance in Xinjiang as a means to fight terrorism. While the app instructs officials to check for "terrorism" and "violent audiovisual content" when conducting phone and software checks, these terms are broadly defined under Chinese laws. It also instructs officials to watch out for "adherents of Wahhabism," a term suggesting an ultra-conservative form of Islamic belief, and "families of those...who detonated (devices) and killed themselves." But many - if not most - behaviors the IJOP system pays special attention to have no clear relationship to terrorism or extremism. Our analysis of the IJOP system suggests that gathering information to counter genuine terrorism or extremist violence is not a central goal of the system. The app also scores government officials on their performance in fulfilling tasks and is a tool for higher-level supervisors to assign tasks to, and keep tabs on the performance of, lower-level officials. The IJOP app, in part, aims to control government officials to ensure that they are efficiently carrying out the government's repressive orders. In creating the IJOP system, the Chinese government has benefitted from Chinese companies who provide them with technologies. While the Chinese government has primary responsibility for the human rights violations taking place in Xinjiang, these companies also have a responsibility under international law to respect human rights, avoid complicity in abuses, and adequately remedy them when they occur. As detailed below, the IJOP system and some of the region's checkpoints work together to form a series of invisible or virtual fences. Authorities describe them as a series of "filters" or "sieves" throughout the region, sifting out undesirable elements. Depending on the level of threat authorities perceive - determined by factors programmed into the IJOP system - , individuals' freedom of movement is restricted to different degrees. Some are held captive in Xinjiang's prisons and political education camps; others are subjected to house arrest, not allowed to leave their registered locales, not allowed to enter public places, or not allowed to leave China. Government control over movement in Xinjiang today bears similarities to the Mao Zedong era (1949-1976), when people were restricted to where they were registered to live and police could detain anyone for venturing outside their locales. After economic liberalization was launched in 1979, most of these controls had become largely obsolete. However, Xinjiang's modern police state - which uses a combination of technological systems and administrative controls - empowers the authorities to reimpose a Mao-era degree of control, but in a graded manner that also meets the economy's demands for largely free movement of labor. The intrusive, massive collection of personal information through the IJOP app helps explain reports by Turkic Muslims in Xinjiang that government officials have asked them or their family members a bewildering array of personal questions. When government agents conduct intrusive visits to Muslims' homes and offices, for example, they typically ask whether the residents own exercise equipment and how they communicate with families who live abroad; it appears that such officials are fulfilling requirements sent to them through apps such as the IJOP app. The IJOP app does not require government officials to inform the people whose daily lives are pored over and logged the purpose of such intrusive data collection or how their information is being used or stored, much less obtain consent for such data collection. The Strike Hard Campaign has shown complete disregard for the rights of Turkic Muslims to be presumed innocent until proven guilty. In Xinjiang, authorities have created a system that considers individuals suspicious based on broad and dubious criteria, and then generates lists of people to be evaluated by officials for detention. Official documents state that individuals "who ought to be taken, should be taken," suggesting the goal is to maximize the number of people they find "untrustworthy" in detention. Such people are then subjected to police interrogation without basic procedural protections. They have no right to legal counsel, and some are subjected to torture and mistreatment, for which they have no effective redress, as we have documented in our September 2018 report. The result is Chinese authorities, bolstered by technology, arbitrarily and indefinitely detaining Turkic Muslims in Xinjiang en masse for actions and behavior that are not crimes under Chinese law. And yet Chinese authorities continue to make wildly inaccurate claims that their "sophisticated" systems are keeping Xinjiang safe by "targeting" terrorists "with precision." In China, the lack of an independent judiciary and free press, coupled with fierce government hostility to independent civil society organizations, means there is no way to hold the government or participating businesses accountable for their actions, including for the devastating consequences these systems inflict on people's lives. The Chinese government should immediately shut down the IJOP and delete all the data it has collected from individuals in Xinjiang. It should cease the Strike Hard Campaign, including all compulsory programs aimed at surveilling and controlling Turkic Muslims. All those held in political education camps should be unconditionally released and the camps shut down. The government should also investigate Party Secretary Chen Quanguo and other senior officials implicated in human rights abuses, including violating privacy rights, and grant access to Xinjiang, as requested by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and UN human rights experts. Concerned foreign governments should impose targeted sanctions, such as the US Global Magnitsky Act, including visa bans and asset freezes, against Party Secretary Chen and other senior officials linked to abuses in the Strike Hard Campaign. They should also impose appropriate export control mechanisms to prevent the Chinese government from obtaining technologies used to violate basic rights. Details: New York: Human Rights Watch, 2019. 79p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 4, 2019 at: https://www.hrw.org/video-photos/interactive/2019/05/02/china-how-mass-surveillance-works-xinjiang Year: 2019 Country: China Keywords: China Shelf Number: 156162 |
Author: Chang, Lily Title: Contested Childhoods: Law and Social Deviance in Wartime China, 1937 - 1945 Summary: "Contested Childhoods" links together three major areas of historical inquiry: war and criminality, law and social change, and the law as it relates to children, in the first half of twentieth-century China. The founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1949 has eclipsed the historical significance of Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist Government and the importance of its role during the wartime period. This study examines how the outbreak of China's War of Resistance against Japan (1937-1945) served as a crucial catalyst to the construction of ideas of criminality and its relation to children during the wartime period. It examines the different measures by which Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist Government (1928-1949) attempted to handle the rise in levels of criminality involving juveniles. The study analyses how an increase in criminality during the wartime period challenged how ideas on and about children and childhood were in understood within Chinese society. Moreover, it argues that wartime conditions served as a crucial catalyst prompted the construction of a new judicial and legal framework that was aimed at delineating the boundaries between childhood and adulthood during this period. Details: Oxford: University of Oxford, 2011. 282p. Source: Internet Resource (Doctoral Thesis): Accessed June 17, 2019 at: https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:ac4d436e-63a4-42ce-b2df-f3edb1c556f3 Year: 2011 Country: China Keywords: China Shelf Number: 156468 |
Author: Wellesley, Laura Title: Trade in Illegal Timber: The Response in China Summary: his paper is part of a broader Chatham House study which assesses illegal logging and the associated trade. The Chinese government has made notable progress in its efforts to tackle illegal logging and the associated trade. This has included the development of a draft national timber legality verification system (TLVS) and its active engagement with a number of consumer countries. The government's plans to establish bilateral trade agreements with producer countries are also encouraging, although no formalized commitments have yet been made. Reflecting the growing awareness of the impact of Chinese companies overseas, the government has also been developing further guidance to promote sustainable forest products trade and investment. The private sector is also taking action, with continued growth in the uptake of chain-of-custody (CoC) certification. Industry associations have been promoting legal and sustainable sourcing, and they will have an important role to play in testing the draft TLVS. These steps are likely to have had an impact on the volume of illegal wood-based products being imported into China. However, trade data discrepancies and analysis of trade flows both indicate that illegal trade remains a significant problem. While imports of high-risk products are estimated to have declined since 2000, these are reckoned to comprise 17 per cent of the total by volume in 2013. This proportion is high compared with other timber-importing countries examined in this assessment. In order to build on its response to illegal logging and related trade, the Chinese government should establish binding regulations and stringent controls on the import and export of illegal wood-based products. The draft TLVS should be further developed, including through pilot projects with timber-exporting countries and effective consultation with industry, civil society and other consumer-country governments. The government's procurement policy should be strengthened through the clarification of its legality and sustainability requirements, the inclusion of a wider range of products within its scope, and the development of a robust mechanism to monitor compliance. Increased training for the private sector on due diligence, market regulations and legality requirements in consumer countries is required to stimulate further action by industry, and the work to elaborate further guidelines for companies operating overseas in the forest products trade should be continued. Awareness-raising initiatives for Chinese consumers should also be extended, in order to increase demand for verified legal wood-based products. Details: London: Chatham House, The Royal Institute of International Affairs, 2014. 31p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 16, 2019 at: https://www.chathamhouse.org/sites/default/files/publications/research/20141210IllegalTimberChinaWellesley.pdf Year: 2014 Country: China Keywords: Deforestation Shelf Number: 156859 |
Author: Financial Action Task Force Title: Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing Measures: People's Republic of China, Mutual Evaluation Report Summary: China has undertaken a number of initiatives since 2002 that have contributed positively to its understanding of ML/TF risk, although some important gaps remain. Its framework for domestic AML/CFT co-operation and co-ordination is well established. China's de-centralised FIU arrangement consisting of CAMLMAC, AMLB and 36 PBC provincial branches has high potential to produce financial intelligence that supports the operational needs of competent authorities but its current functioning results in incomplete access by all parts of the FIU to all data, a fragmented analysis and disseminations, and limits the development of a holistic view. Therefore, major improvements are needed. LEAs have access to and use a wide range of financial intelligence throughout the lifetime of an investigation, but financial intelligence is not driving ML investigations. When using financial intelligence, LEAs identify predicate criminal behaviours and actively investigate these. Predicate crime investigation outcomes reflect that China has capable LEAs that are skilled in the investigation of complex financial crime and associated predicate crime. Effective, proportionate, and dissuasive sanctions are available and are applied for ML. China has an institutional framework in place to investigate and prosecute TF activities, in line with its understanding of TF risks and in line with its strategy to prevent TF and disrupt TF channels. Since the implementation of a new counterterrorism law in 2015 and related interpretations, the number of TF prosecutions and convictions has increased. The implementation of TF and PF targeted financial sanctions is negatively affected by three fundamental deficiencies, related to (i) scope of coverage of the requirements and a lack of a prohibition covering all persons and entities; (ii) the types of assets and funds of designated entities that can in practice be frozen, and the type of transactions that can be prohibited; and (iii) a lack of implementation without delay for non-domestic designations. That said, the CTL and relevant PBC Notice are a good starting point for future updates to the legal system in line with revised FATF standards, and to improve effective implementation. While not covered by the FATF standards, authorities have taken measures in relation to other aspects of UNSCRs related to DPRK. f) While FIs have a satisfactory understanding of their AML/CFT obligations, they have not developed a sufficient understanding of risks. Measures implemented to mitigate risk are generally not commensurate with different risk situations. China's AML/CFT supervisory system is almost exclusively focused on the financial sector, as there are no effective preventive or supervisory measures in respect of the DNFBP sector. The PBC has an inadequate understanding of risks overall. Although their understanding of risk impacting the financial sector is adequate, its understanding of institution specific risk seems to be largely based on the FIs' own risk assessment rather than that of the authorities. China handles MLA and extradition requests in accordance with the procedures and standards for approval stipulated by domestic laws, bilateral treaties and multilateral conventions, but due to a complicated decision-making structure for providing MLA or executing extradition requests, it is often a protracted process. At the same time, China can arrange an expedited procedure for urgent requests or cases. There is an effective cooperation in some areas between China and some of its neighbours, however, there is a lack of data that would establish effective implementation of ML/TF related co-operation. Details: Paris: Fourth Round Mutual Evaluation Report, 2019. 280p. Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 15, 2019 at: http://www.fatf-gafi.org/media/fatf/documents/reports/mer4/MER-China-2019.pdf Year: 2019 Country: China Keywords: Anti-Money Laundering Shelf Number: 157000 |