Myanmar sentences 153 Chinese illegal loggers to life imprisonment

[Falling]

Myanmar sentences 153 Chinese illegal loggers to life imprisonment

Embassy in Yangon says it has launched representations over 'too heavy' sentences

PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 22 July, 2015, 11:50pm
UPDATED : Wednesday, 22 July, 2015, 11:50pm

Reuters in Yangon and Staff Reporter

Regions along Myanmar's porous border with the mainland have long been hotbeds for the illegal trade in timber to feed Chinese demand. Photo: Reuters

A court in Myanmar has handed life sentences to 153 Chinese nationals for illegal logging, according to a court official.

The court in Myitkyina, capital of Kachin state in the north of the country, also sentenced two Chinese to 10-year prison terms.

A spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Yangon said it had lodged "solemn" representations with the Myanmese authorities.

The spokesman said the embassy was still verifying what had happened with the Myanmese authorities, but said that Chinese nationals had been given fixed imprisonment terms.

He added: "Even if they were jailed for 10 or 20 years, we still believe the sentence is too heavy."

Consulate officials had arrived in Myitkyina, and would liaise with the court over the verdict, the spokesman added.

"We will provide assistance to the Chinese if they want to appeal to a higher court," he said.

The Chinese nationals would all have a chance to appeal the rulings, said a Myanmese court official, who declined to be identified.

The individuals were arrested in January in a crackdown on the country's lucrative illegal logging and timber trade launched by the military, police and forestry department. According to state media at the time, more than 400 vehicles and 1,600 logs were seized during the raid.

An official from Myitkyina's prison department confirmed the sentences.

Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said in January that China was in contact with Myanmar to seek "a proper solution" for the case.

Regions along Myanmar's porous border with the mainland have long been hotbeds for the illegal trade in timber to feed Chinese demand. Much of Myanmar's jade is also smuggled into the mainland.

The mainland's voracious demand for Myanmar's raw materials has contributed to resentment in the country towards its giant northern neighbour.

Aye Myint Maung, deputy minister of Myanmar's Ministry of Environmental Conservation and Forestry, told parliament in June that 10,000 tonnes of illegal timber had been seized from illegal loggers since January, most of it from Kachin state.

Kachin has seen an increase in conflict since 2011, when a 17-year ceasefire between the Myanmese military and autonomy-seeking ethnic Kachin rebels broke down.

 

[Falling]

Beijing anger as Myanmar court imposes ‘life’ sentences on over 150 Chinese illegal loggers

Foreign ministry spokesman asks neighbour to 'deal with this case in a lawful, reasonable and justified manner ... and return those people to China as soon as possible'

PUBLISHED : Thursday, 23 July, 2015, 4:01pm
UPDATED : Thursday, 23 July, 2015, 4:44pm

Agence France-Presse in Yangon

Campaigners say both Myanmar and China have turned a blind eye to huge smuggling networks on their shared border, transporting not only timber but weapons, jade and rice. File photo: EPA

Beijing criticised on Thursday long jail sentences imposed on more than 150 Chinese nationals for illegal logging in Myanmar – the latest disagreement to shake relations between the neighbours.

The mass sentencing, which has sparked outraged editorials in Chinese state-run media, comes after the loggers were arrested in January during a crackdown on illegal forestry activities in northern Kachin state, which borders China.

For years China has acquired Myanmar’s once abundant raw materials, spurring popular anger in the former junta-ruled country, which is set for a general election later this year.

Beijing had asked its smaller neighbour to “deal with this case in a lawful, reasonable and justified manner ... and return those people to China as soon as possible”, foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said in a statement on the ministry’s website.

However, the Myanmar government said it would not interfere in the judicial process.

“When our citizens break the law in other countries, [they] face sentence by those country’s laws,” government spokesman Ye Htut told Agence France-Presse. “We cannot use diplomacy to intervene. I think China will understand.

“What is really needed is to stop illegal logging in the future.”

A court official in Kachin state, who asked not to be named, told Agence France-Presse that 153 Chinese loggers had been jailed for life for illegal logging. A life sentence in Myanmar is equivalent to 20 years, legal experts said.

The official said a further two teenage boys, aged less than 18, had received 10-year sentences without giving any further details, while a woman was jailed for 15 years on narcotics charges.

An editorial in China’s Global Times criticised the “severity” of the sentences and expressed hope that intervention from Beijing could “reverse” the outcome.

“A few cases of Chinese engaging in illegal business in Myanmar have been scrutinised by public opinion, exaggerated as China’s economic ‘invasion’ of the latter,” it said, urging the Myanmar public “to look upon China-Myanmar trade in a positive way”.

It is the latest dispute to damage ties between the two countries.

Beijing was Myanmar’s closest ally during the later years of military rule, providing a shield from harsh international censure and a lifeline as a trading partner for a junta that badly mismanaged the economy.

However, observers said the scale of interests that China accrued during that period – from dams and mines, to a gas pipeline aimed at developing its southern Yunnan province – had caused friction and led Myanmar towards reforms in an effort to balance Beijing’s power.

Those reforms, started in 2011, have seen the rollback of most Western sanctions and the promise of a foreign investment boom.

A general election on November 8 is being keenly watched as a marker of the extent of Myanmar’s liberalisation.

One of the first major acts of President Thein Sein, whose quasi-civilian government replaced outright military rule, was to halt construction of the huge Chinese-backed Myitsone dam in Kachin, where a bloody civil war has raged since 2011.

In 2013, China executed notorious Myanmar drug kingpin Naw Kham for the murder of 13 sailors on the Mekong river in 2011.

He was killed by lethal injection, but the decision to first parade him live on television sparked deep resentment in Myanmar.

Earlier this year, Beijing issued a strong rebuke to its neighbour after a bomb dropped by a Myanmese aircraft in Chinese territory killed five Chinese citizens as fighting between government troops and ethnic Chinese Kokang rebels spilled across the border.

Thein Sein’s government has sought to halt the export of timber from the country with a ban on the movement of logs that came into effect in April last year.

However, campaigners say both Myanmar and China have turned a blind eye to enormous smuggling networks on their shared border, transporting everything from weapons and jade to timber and rice.

Logging in Myanmar became widespread under the country’s former junta as the ruling generals tossed aside sustainable forestry practices in a rush to cash in on the country’s vast natural resources.

Huge forested areas have been stripped bare, partly to feed massive demand across the border in China, with Kachin rebels also accused of building their war chest on the profits from logging and mining.

 

[azxcsvn]

the more the merrier

 

[eatshitndie]

the world is waking up. turkey is burning prc flags. africa is telling tiongs to go home. burmese are jailing tiong thieves. hongkies and vietnamese say fuck off. even north korea is getting irritated by the tiongs. 5000 years of civilization have produced a cuntry of frauds and robbers.

 

[bart12]

Should have given death sentences! Ah Tiongs are the worst nightmare for planet Earth

 

[SgGoneWrong]

the world is waking up. turkey is burning prc flags. africa is telling tiongs to go home. burmese are jailing tiong thieves. hongkies and vietnamese say fuck off. even north korea is getting irritated by the tiongs. 5000 years of civilization have produced a cuntry of frauds and robbers.

Sg opens legs and says 'welcum'

 

[Narong Wongwan]

Should have given death sentences! Ah Tiongs are the worst nightmare for planet Earth

Chinks are scums of the earth

 

[Narong Wongwan]

Sg opens legs and says 'welcum'

Vile pappies are scums of the universe

 

[mojito]

How dare you thumbs up the plight of our chinese brudders! Jah the fake chink will come in and chastice you for being a chinese hating, foreigner loving dog.

 

[lifeafter41]

Singapore need to sentence those with fake degrees and those from degree mills too to life imprisonment.
Problem is there are so many of them, that the prisons in Singapore will not be able to cope. Maybe have to outsource to batam or jb.