China backs Tanzania 15-year prison sentence for ‘Queen of Ivory’

Beijing. China says it backs Tanzania’s sentencing of a Chinese woman labeled the “ivory queen” to 15 years in jail for smuggling elephant tusks.

Foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said Wednesday that China supports the Tanzanian authorities in conducting a “just” investigation and trial and is “ready to work with the international community to protect wildlife and curb the international trade.”

Yang Fenglan was convicted of smuggling about 700 elephant tusks and her case was viewed as a major test of Africa-wide efforts to hold key trafficking figures accountable for the mass killing of elephants to supply ivory to illegal markets, including in China.

China has cracked down on smuggling and a total ban on all trade in ivory products came into effect last year.

Yang was accused of operating one of Africa's biggest ivory-smuggling rings, responsible for smuggling $2.5m (£1.9m) worth of tusks from some 400 elephants.

Two Tanzanian men were also found guilty of involvement in the ring.

Ivory poaching is said to have caused a 20 per cent decline in the population of African elephants in the last decade.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), a global environmental body, says the population of African elephants has fallen to 415,000 - a drop of 110,000 over the last 10 years - as a result of poaching.

The illicit trade is fuelled by demand from China and east Asia, where ivory is used to make jewellery and ornaments.

Yang was convicted on charges relating to the smuggling of around 800 pieces of ivory between 2000 and 2014 from Tanzania to the Far East.

The Tanzanian men were also jailed for 15 years on similar charges.

The court in Dar es Salaam, has ordered Yang's property to be repossessed.

She had been under investigation for more than a year when she was arrested in 2015, following a high-speed car chase.

At the time of her arrest, Yang was a prominent businesswoman, operating a Chinese restaurant as well as an investment company in Dar es Salaam.

Fluent in Kiswahili, she had lived and worked in Tanzania since the 1970s, and had served as vice-president of the China-Africa Business Council of Tanzania.

Environmental campaigners welcomed the arrest because she was seen as playing a pivotal role in the illegal ivory trade. Most arrests tend to involve minor players