Chinese contradictions on animal trafficking

Why would Beijing push a policy that undermines President Xi Jinping’s oft-stated ambition to build an ‘ecological civilization, asks Brook Larmer.

The cryptic declaration from Beijing alarmed and mystified wildlife conservationists around the world. Reversing a 25-year-old ban on the trade of tiger bones and rhinoceros horns, the Chinese government announced in October that it would foster a “controlled” legal market in these goods.