Published
Friday, April 4, 2008 - 17:24
China makes mockery of own ban on timber import from Burma
China is making a mockery of its own rule of banning timber import from Northern Burma that it imposed in late 2005. It has gone back to procuring timber from the same area, sources on the Sino-Burma border said.
China is making a mockery of its own rule of banning timber import from Northern Burma that it imposed in late 2005. It has gone back to procuring timber from the same area, sources on the Sino-Burma border said.
Chinese border authorities seem to have unofficially lifted the ban on importing timber from Northern Burma because hundreds of Chinese trucks carrying logs are crossing from Kachin State into China through the border checkpoints of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) every day, eyewitnesses said.
More than 100 log-laden trucks cross day and night from a checkpoint in Laiza, the headquarters of KIO into China, whereas about 50 trucks cross from KIO's Nbapa checkpoint in Bhamo District into China's Nong Dao gate, every day, log brokers in these two areas told KNG.
The log carting trucks are mainly loaded with valuable hard wood called Tarmalan and teak which are brought from the logging areas between west of Irrawaddy River (Mali Hka), Mogaung Township, Bhamo District and Sagaing Division, according to local loggers.
The loggers are mainly Chinese and they have to bribe gold bars rather than a million Kyats to Burmese ruling junta's Kachin State military commander Maj-Gen Ohn Myint for illegal logging permits, sources close to Commander Ohn Myint said.
The log businessmen have to bribe a total of over 10 million Kyats (est. US $ 9,091) per log truck to the Burmese military and the KIO in order to allow passage of a truck to the China border from the logging areas in Kachin State and Sagaing Division.
Currently, logging in Kachin State is being directly done by Awng Mai Company which is controlled by Maj-Gen Ohn Myint's family and local Burmese military bases, local loggers said.
Logging in the area is impossible without the involvement of Commander Ohn Myint and local Burmese military bases rather than the KIO, the main Kachin ceasefire group, the loggers added.
Meanwhile, Chinese border authorities have heightened checking of cross border travellers between China's Yunnan province and Burma after the recent protests by Tibetans against China.
Chinese border authorities seem to have unofficially lifted the ban on importing timber from Northern Burma because hundreds of Chinese trucks carrying logs are crossing from Kachin State into China through the border checkpoints of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) every day, eyewitnesses said.
More than 100 log-laden trucks cross day and night from a checkpoint in Laiza, the headquarters of KIO into China, whereas about 50 trucks cross from KIO's Nbapa checkpoint in Bhamo District into China's Nong Dao gate, every day, log brokers in these two areas told KNG.
The log carting trucks are mainly loaded with valuable hard wood called Tarmalan and teak which are brought from the logging areas between west of Irrawaddy River (Mali Hka), Mogaung Township, Bhamo District and Sagaing Division, according to local loggers.
The loggers are mainly Chinese and they have to bribe gold bars rather than a million Kyats to Burmese ruling junta's Kachin State military commander Maj-Gen Ohn Myint for illegal logging permits, sources close to Commander Ohn Myint said.
The log businessmen have to bribe a total of over 10 million Kyats (est. US $ 9,091) per log truck to the Burmese military and the KIO in order to allow passage of a truck to the China border from the logging areas in Kachin State and Sagaing Division.
Currently, logging in Kachin State is being directly done by Awng Mai Company which is controlled by Maj-Gen Ohn Myint's family and local Burmese military bases, local loggers said.
Logging in the area is impossible without the involvement of Commander Ohn Myint and local Burmese military bases rather than the KIO, the main Kachin ceasefire group, the loggers added.
Meanwhile, Chinese border authorities have heightened checking of cross border travellers between China's Yunnan province and Burma after the recent protests by Tibetans against China.
