The president of an international conservation group urged Taiwan to impose a complete ban on ivory trade, after Vietnam seized a container of elephant tusks and pangolin scales reportedly transshipped from Taiwan last month.
Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) president Allan Thornton met with Forestry Bureau Director Lee Tao-sheng (李桃生) this week and urged the bureau to work with the US and other governments to save African elephants by establishing a sunset clause on the sale of registered ivory products as a prelude to imposing a complete ban.
Taiwan currently allows limited trade in ivory products. The Wildlife Conservation Act (野生動物保育法) stipulates that ivory products imported into the nation before 1995 can be registered with county governments and legally traded. Only non-commercial imports and exports of legally certified ivory are allowed.
Most registered ivory products are stamps or artifacts, but the bureau does not know how many ivory products are on the market, it said.
“Whether it’s robust or not, such a registration system creates a loophole and enables ivory trade to continue, as traders would seek to secure registration with fraudulent means,” Thornton told the Taipei Times.
On Nov. 22, Vietnamese customs seized 860kg of elephant tusks and 2 tonnes of pangolin scales labeled as “frozen fish,” with the shipment reportedly smuggled into the country from Taiwan.
Thornton said Taiwan’s role in the illicit ivory trade, although small, is mainly to provide an intermediate shipment destination for laundering of smuggled tusks, which is “a stain on Taiwan’s reputation.”
A complete ban on ivory trade to eliminate the demand for elephant tusks is the only way to save elephants, he said, adding that Taiwan has played an important role in the international ban on rhino horns and the subsequent rhino population recovery.
After the US imposed trade sanctions on Taiwan in 1994 for failing to halt the use of tiger and rhinoceros products, Taiwan outlawed the trade in rhino horns, which not only terminated domestic demand, but also encouraged China and other Asian countries to do the same, effectively helping the global rhino population to restabilize, he said.
“Taiwan should again show its leadership by completely banning ivory trade, and the nation would be showered with praise,” he said
The bureau said it would start to conduct an inventory of registered ivories to assess the feasibility of establishing a sunset clause to phase out ivory trade.
“Taiwan has all the legal measures in place. All that is lacking is the political will to do so [banning ivory trade],” Thornton said.
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition