"This is a very special time for U.S.-China relations. It's the start of President Obama's second term, and this is of course the start of President Xi Jinping's new administration. The U.S.-China relations is among the most important bilateral relationships in the world. And as such, there is no other alternative but to have a harmonious and a cooperative relationship. As with any relationship, there are bound to be ups, downs, disagreements, but in the overall scheme of things, in the overall direction, for the benefit of the world, U.S. and China must get along, and must find a way to do so."...2013, Mrs. Mitch McConnell, Elaine Chao
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Mrs. McConnell was in Shanghai in 2013 for cargo ship "Grain May" signing ceremony. Grain May is owned by the Foremost Co. of which Mrs. McConnell's father is founder and her sister, Angela, is Deputy Chairman.
8/15/14, "McConnell in-law’s ship leaves Shanghai port, still flying Liberian flag," louisvilleblogs.com
11/3/14, "McConnell in-law's Liberian-flagged ships held by Panamanian corporations," louisvillecourant.blogspot.com
============================
African elephant slaughter is largely driven by Communist China as exemplified in 2013 by President Xi Jinping and his entourage.
1. Mrs. McConnell, Elaine Chao, in the above video announced to the world that Americans have "no other alternative" but to cooperate with a brutal dictatorship. Says who? Americans don't have to do anything. No one does, least of all with corrupt, depraved governments.
Civil societies are unalterably opposed to animal abuse and slaughter. Communist China's particular zeal for elephant slaughter is revolting. China will continue the practice because no one is going to stop them.
Mrs. McConnell might've used her public platform to tell the world that China is driving slaughter of African elephants and she hopes other countries will avoid China until the country changes its culture. If Mrs. McConnell wants to deal with sadists on her own, that's her privilege, but she has no right to tell other Americans to do so. Elephant slaughter of course is only one of many reasons to avoid China.
Images:
1. "A scene of terror: the bodies of 89 elephants were found in Chad following a massacre by poachers. Photo courtesy of SOS Elephants in Chad."
2. "Dead mother with calf still attached to umbilical cord. The Chairman of SOS Elephants Chad, Stephanie Vergniault, told mongabay.com that this calf was likely born during the shooting attack by poachers only to perish. Photo courtesy of SOS Elephants in Chad."
3/19/2013, "Poachers slaughter 89 elephants in Chad including over 30 pregnant mothers," news.mongabay.com, Christine M. Russo
=====================
2014 US midterms have made Mrs. McConnell "one of the most powerful women in the US":
11/6/14, "With GOP Victories, Elaine Chao becomes one of the most Powerful Women in the US," Bostonese.com, English-Chinese online Journal
The article references Mrs. McConnell's husband Mitch taking over the Senate in Jan. 2015.
With
GOP Victories, Elaine Chao Becomes One of the Most Powerful Women in
the U.S. - See more at:
http://bostonese.com/2014/11/with-gop-victories-elaine-chao-becomes-one-of-the-most-powerful-woman-in-the-u-s/#sthash.RsJz6cVP.dpuf
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NY Times on China's role in driving elephant slaughter in Africa:
"International conservation groups have long accused Beijing of turning a blind eye to China’s major role in the illegal ivory trade, which has surged since officials with the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, or Cites, permitted China to buy 68 tons of African ivory in 2008."...
11/5/14, "Chinese President’s Delegation Tied to Illegal Ivory Purchases During Africa Visit," NY Times, Dan Levin, Beijing
"When President Xi Jinping of China and his entourage of government officials and business leaders arrived in Tanzania in March 2013, it was to officially promote economic ties between the two countries.
But according to a report by the Environmental Investigation Agency,
a nongovernmental organization based in London, members of the Chinese
delegation used Mr. Xi’s visit as an opportunity to procure so much
illegal ivory that local prices doubled to about $318 a pound. Two weeks
before Mr. Xi arrived, Chinese buyers purchased thousands of pounds of
poached tusks, which were
“later sent to China in diplomatic bags on the presidential plane,” said the report, which was released on Wednesday.
“later sent to China in diplomatic bags on the presidential plane,” said the report, which was released on Wednesday.
The Chinese government
has been trying to prove itself a responsible state actor that is
serious about abolishing corruption and abiding by international law.
But the report, “Vanishing Point: Criminality, Corruption and the Devastation of Tanzania’s Elephants,”
details Chinese diplomats and military personnel colluding with
Tanzanian officials
and Chinese crime syndicates to send illegal ivory
to China, decimating Tanzania’s elephant population in the process.
“Tanzania is the
largest source of poached ivory in the world and China the largest
importer of smuggled tusks,” the organization said in a statement.
A Chinese official denied the accusations and denounced the organization that issued the report.
In the past four
years, Tanzania has lost more elephants than any other country, an
estimated 10,000 in 2013 alone, according to the organization. The
elephant population in Tanzania’s Selous Game Reserve, a vast wilderness
larger than Switzerland, plummeted 67 percent between 2009 and 2013, to
13,000.
International conservation groups have long accused Beijing of turning a blind eye to China’s major role in the illegal ivory trade,
which has surged since officials with
permitted China to buy 68 tons of
African ivory in 2008.
The Chinese government
had lobbied hard to allow a legal domestic trade in ivory, arguing that
it would undercut poachers and thus protect elephants herds. Instead,
illegal ivory has flooded Chinese markets, where it is carved into
jewelry, trinkets and religious sculptures for wealthy collectors. The
price of ivory in China has tripled in the last four years, according to
a report published in June by Save the Elephants.
“At the root of
Tanzania’s elephant disaster lies a toxic blend of governance failures,
corruption and criminality,” the Environmental Investigation Agency
report said.
Game rangers share
information on patrol patterns and the location of herds, it said.
Police officers rent out weapons and transport tusks. Officers with the
Tanzania Revenue Authority permit shipping containers full of ivory to
exit the country’s ports. This year, the report said, 21 game rangers
were fired for cooperating with poachers after an internal investigation
by Tanzania’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism.
The organization has
traced bribery and collusion in ivory smuggling to politicians from
Tanzania’s governing party, led by President Jakaya Kikwete. When he
took office in 2005, there were about 142,000 elephants in Tanzania. By
the time Mr. Kikwete is to step down next year, the population is
expected to have declined to just 55,000. Tanzania currently bans all
domestic and international trade in ivory.
The Tanzanian
government under Mr. Kikwete has tried three times to gain permission
from Cites to sell its ivory stockpile. It has also sought to ease
restrictions on Tanzania’s elephants in order to take advantage of a
growing demand for ivory in Asia, particularly in China.
“This business
involves rich people and politicians who have formed a very
sophisticated network,” said Khamis Kagasheki, a former Tanzanian
Natural Resources and Tourism minister.
Investigators with the
organization have documented, often with hidden cameras, Chinese and
Tanzanian smugglers acknowledging that they had bought and sold illegal
ivory, which several Chinese traffickers said accounted for 90 percent
of the Chinese ivory market.
“Even if they kill all
the African elephants, it won’t be enough to make these,” said one
Chinese smuggler on camera, referring to the ivory chopsticks in his
hand.
Chinese smugglers have
set up a widespread network in Tanzania that includes staff members of
the Chinese Embassy in the country’s largest city, Dar es Salaam, the
organization said.
During a November 2013
raid on a house in a suburb of Dar es Salaam, the police found 706
tusks, large amounts of cash, scales, a minibus with a secret
compartment for hiding ivory, and license plates. The three Chinese men
arrested were packing the tusks in sacks under snail shells and garlic.
According to the report, the suspects used a business exporting seafood
to conceal their ivory smuggling.
A month later, the
official connection became apparent when a Chinese naval fleet docked at
the port of Dar es Salaam for four days of “cultural exchanges.” The
official visit benefited local ivory traders, the report said, with one
dealer boasting of earning $50,000 from sales to Chinese naval
personnel. During the visit, a Chinese citizen named Yu Bo was arrested
trying to enter the port with 81 tusks — ivory from about 40 elephants.
Convicted of ivory smuggling and fined $5.6 million, Mr. Yu was
sentenced to 20 years in prison; he is the only person to have been
convicted in eight major cases since 2009.
Meng Xianlin, the
executive director general of China’s endangered species trade
authority, denied that Chinese officials were involved in the illegal
ivory trade. In a telephone interview on Wednesday, Mr. Meng called the
Environmental Investigation Agency report “highly irresponsible,” for
“spreading rumors and damaging China’s image without any evidence.”
Describing the E.I.A. as a “dodgy organization,” Mr. Meng also said he had never heard of Mr. Yu."...
=============================
Chinese President Xi Jinping's 2013 illegal ivory buying spree in Africa with delegation and businessmen caused illegal ivory prices to skyrocket. Bags of ivory were put on a presidential plane-BBC
11/6/14, "China officials with Xi Jinping made 'Tanzania ivory spree'," BBC.
"Officials travelling to
Tanzania with Chinese President Xi Jinping went on a buying spree for
illegal ivory, an environmental activist group has said.
.
In a report,
the Environmental Investigation Agency cited two ivory merchants who
said the arrival of the delegation in 2013 fuelled demand..
The amount of ivory purchased by them sent local prices soaring, it added.
Conservationists say demand for ivory, where China is seen as the biggest market, is fuelling poaching in Africa.
The Chinese use ivory in traditional crafts and carvings are prized as status symbols, correspondents say.
In recent years poaching has increased across sub-Saharan Africa with criminal gangs slaughtering elephants for ivory
.
China's government has not yet made any public comment on the allegations in the report.
'Security checks averted'
The EIA report cited a trader in Tanzania's main port city, Dar es Salaam, named as Suleiman Mochiwa, who met undercover investigators.
He said that when the Chinese government and business delegation arrived ivory prices in the local market doubled to $700 (£438) per kilo during the visit.
"The [delegation]... used the opportunity to procure such a large amount of ivory that local prices increased," the report says.
Investigators alleged that the Chinese could take advantage of a lack of security checks for those in the country on a diplomatic visit.
"The two traders claimed that a fortnight before the state visit, Chinese buyers began purchasing thousands of kilos of ivory, later sent to China in diplomatic bags on the presidential plane," the report added.
It was Xi Jinping's first foreign tour as head of state.
Traders told the group that similar ivory sales took place on an earlier trip by China's former President Hu Jintao.
The ivory trade was banned in 1989 by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites). Both China and Tanzania are signatories.
China does have around 150 legal, government-licensed ivory shops, which sells ivory collected prior to this. They are the only places allowed to sell ivory to individual buyers.
Earlier this year China for the first time destroyed a large quantity of confiscated ivory, in a public event described by conservation groups as a landmark move.
Just over six tonnes of carvings, ornaments and tusks amassed over the years were fed into crushing machines.
Nevertheless officials warn that demand for ivory across Asia has led to thousand of elephants being killed in Africa."
.
------------------------------
"Analysis: Celia Hatton, BBC News, Beijing"
"The illegal ivory trade is flourishing in China, where many prize ivory carvings as valuable status symbols.
However, a portion of Chinese society, including some parts of the government, is working to eradicate illicit ivory sales.
The country's state media publicises the arrests of smugglers and, earlier this year, the first televised destruction of confiscated ivory.
However, education campaigns have a long way to go.
Some in China don't realise that one has to kill an elephant in order to harvest its tusks. In Chinese, the term for ivory is translated literally as "elephant tooth", leading a sizeable portion of the population to believe, in error, that elephants can re-grow their tusks.
Complicating the issue is that China allows limited sales of legal ivory. Conservationists, both inside China and outside its borders, argue that the government needs to ban sales completely in order to stop the trade in its tracks."
===================
[China of course denies the report. They know they can do what they want because no one ever holds them to account for anything. "Allegations without evidence" is a "non-denial denial."]:
"'Not believable'"
"The report is groundless, and we express our strong dissatisfaction," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei is quoted as saying by the Associated Press news agency.
The director of China's endangered species import and export management office also dismissed the claims: "Allegations without evidence are not believable," Meng Xianlin said.
A spokesmen for the Tanzanian government, Assah Mwambene, said the EIA was trying to "frustrate" efforts to halt the ivory trade."...
===================
Nov. 2014, "Vanishing Point: Criminality, Corruption, and the Devastation of Tanzania's Elephants," Environmental Investigation Agency
=================================
==================================
Mrs. McConnell, Elaine Chao, joined the Bloomberg Board in 2012:
.
8/8/14, "McConnell's wife sits on board that opposes coal,"
"Chao joined Bloomberg Philanthropies in early 2012, according to a news release on the group's website....
Chao sits on the board of directors of the Bloomberg Family Foundation, a philanthropic organization that has committed $50 million over four years to a campaign against coal. The foundation, established by former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, also has committed $600 million to what it calls the "Bloomberg Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use."
The United Mine Workers of America, which has endorsed Grimes, attacked the Chao connection to anti-coal activists. President Cecil Roberts said in a statement McConnell's wife "is of course free to take a position on whatever board of directors she chooses."
"But one would think that, as the spouse of a Kentucky politician, she would choose more carefully when it comes to taking a leadership role in an organization that had recently invested in the destruction of the American coal industry and the jobs of American coal miners," Roberts said.
On a Bloomberg website titled "Beyond Coal," the group states that it is partnered with the Sierra Club's Beyond Coal campaign "to move the country from coal to clean energy.""...
=============================
Foremost Co. ship "Grain May" flies the Liberian flag:
=======================
Foremost Shipping Co.'s owner Dr. Chao supports the $1 billion a day imaginary global warming industry, and is "part of the green transformation in global commerce:"
.
In May 2004, Dr. Chao became one of few inducted into the International Maritime Hall of Fame at the UN
.
.
"Bio of Dr. S.C. Chao, the Inaugural CAAPs Distinguished Lifetime Achievement Award Winner," bostonese.com, English-Chinese online Journal, by Chinese American Academic and Professional Society
In
1964, Dr. Chao founded Foremost Maritime Corporation, developed it to
the current Foremost Group, and remains as Chairman to this day. Today,
Foremost Group, its headquarters located in New York City, is a
well-established, much respected international organization with
activities in international shipping, trading and financing. The company
enjoys a sterling reputation worldwide for professionalism and high
ethical standards under Dr. Chao’s leadership. In May 2004, Dr. Chao
became one of the very few to be inducted into the International
Maritime Hall of Fame at the United Nations.Dr. Chao helped to develop
and establish China’s shipbuilding industry’s advancement in science,
technology, and capacity as early as the 1980’s. Currently, China is
recognized as having surpassed Japan and Korea in the last few years as
the world’s largest shipbuilding country in term of shipbuilding orders.
- See more at: http://bostonese.com/?p=4380?#sthash.hVpjX9BC.dpu
.
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