https://www.scmp.com/rss/326803/feed Peter J. Li, PhD, is associate professor of East Asian politics & animal policy at the University of Houston-Downtown. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com On February 18, the African Union, an intergovernmental organisation that encompasses the continent’s 55 states, approved a 15-year moratorium on the trade in donkey skins. For years, donkey hides have been shipped to China to make ejiao, a gelatin used in an alleged traditional Chinese medicine “cure-all”. The decision to stop the slaughter of Africa’s donkeys, a means of production for some of the poorest on the continent, is a significant milestone. The China-bound trade is threatening the... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/world/article/3253468/africa-china-needs-donkey-diplomacy?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/world/article/3253468/africa-china-needs-donkey-diplomacy?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 29 Feb 2024 10:30:18 +0000 On January 9, South Korea’s National Assembly adopted a special bill outlawing the breeding, slaughter and sale of dogs for human consumption. The vote was historic. It started a three-year grace period for South Korea’s dog farmers, slaughter operators and dog meat restaurant owners to transition to alternative livelihoods with government compensation and assistance. When the law takes effect in 2027, acts that violate it could result in a jail term of up to three years and a fine of 30 million... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3248175/south-koreas-dog-meat-ban-signal-china-follow-suit?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3248175/south-koreas-dog-meat-ban-signal-china-follow-suit?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 13 Jan 2024 01:30:22 +0000 Earlier this month, I wrote a piece on China’s panda diplomacy. Commenting on the departure of three pandas from the National Zoo in Washington and the return to China of pandas from other American zoos, I said pandas could still be sent to the US if the summit between President Xi Jinping and President Joe Biden went well. It did. At a dinner party in his honour attended by business leaders, the Chinese president acknowledged the fondness of Americans, particularly children, for pandas. He said... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3241985/whatever-state-us-china-relations-panda-diplomacy-must-end?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3241985/whatever-state-us-china-relations-panda-diplomacy-must-end?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 20 Nov 2023 08:30:08 +0000 The deadly coronavirus, 2019-nCoV, has paralyzed Wuhan and plunged China into a state of emergency. Sweeping across Chinese provinces, municipalities and special administrative regions, the epidemic has killed over 130 people in the country. With the death toll and number of infections climbing, this is turning into a major global public health crisis, similar to that caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) in 2003. People infected with the 2019-nCoV have been found in countries... https://www.scmp.com/health/china-must-permanently-ban-wildlife-trade/article/3048014?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/health/china-must-permanently-ban-wildlife-trade/article/3048014?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 29 Jan 2020 10:03:01 +0000 The deadly coronavirus, 2019-nCoV, has paralysed Wuhan and plunged China into a state of emergency. Sweeping across Chinese provinces, municipalities and special administrative regions, the epidemic has killed at least 106 people in the country. With the death toll and number of infections climbing, this is turning into a major global public health crisis, similar to that caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) in 2003. People infected with the 2019-nCoV have been found in... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3047828/first-sars-now-wuhan-coronavirus-heres-why-china-should-ban-its?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3047828/first-sars-now-wuhan-coronavirus-heres-why-china-should-ban-its?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 29 Jan 2020 01:00:14 +0000 On June 30, US President Donald Trump held a historic meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Panmunjom at the demilitarised zone between the two Koreas, causing as big a stir with the move as the leaders’ Singapore summit did. It seemed a new high in Trump’s Twitter diplomacy. Trump had extended a last-minute invitation to Kim on social media and he didn’t forget to inflate the significance of his latest meeting, calling it a “great day for the world”. In Trump’s assessment, US-North... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3017087/why-trump-kim-meeting-dmz-was-all-show-and-no-substance?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3017087/why-trump-kim-meeting-dmz-was-all-show-and-no-substance?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 03 Jul 2019 19:00:13 +0000 On October 29, the State Council, China’s cabinet, issued a circular on “strictly regulating activities involving the sale and use of rhino and tiger products”, thus lifting the 1993 ban on the medicinal use of these products. Just as the world was still absorbing the shock, the Chinese authorities announced on November 12 that the issuance of the detailed regulations for implementing the circular had been postponed. It is hard to know at this point what went into the latest postponement... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/united-states/article/2173219/chinas-tug-war-over-tiger-and-rhino-protection?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/united-states/article/2173219/chinas-tug-war-over-tiger-and-rhino-protection?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 15 Nov 2018 03:45:30 +0000 On March 9, US President Donald Trump dropped a bombshell when he accepted Kim Jong-un’s invitation for a summit meeting. The announcement has since brought the North Korean leader to the forefront of international diplomacy.  An inter-Korean summit between Kim and Moon Jae-in is set for April. And while American and North Korean officials are busy working out details of the Trump-Kim summit, Kim’s unannounced visit to China has heightened global interest in the first-ever summit meeting – if it... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2139500/why-china-wont-be-sidelined-north-korean-affairs?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2139500/why-china-wont-be-sidelined-north-korean-affairs?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 30 Mar 2018 04:31:05 +0000 Three recent incidents involving animals have gone viral in Chinese social media. A dog in Weihai (威海), Shandong (山東) province, died after being dragged behind a car travelling on the city’s busy roads. The perpetrator was confronted by angry citizens and taken into custody by local police. In Shenzhen, a man claimed to have beaten 50 dogs to death. He posted graphic images of the suffering online for the “entertainment” of young internet users. The third incident took place at Beijing’s... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1999555/its-time-outlaw-animal-cruelty-china?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1999555/its-time-outlaw-animal-cruelty-china?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 06 Aug 2016 02:00:00 +0000 On June 21, the globally known Yulin Dog Meat Festival will celebrate its seventh birthday. In 2010, the festival was fabricated by local traders so that thousands of dogs could be slaughtered and consumed. There is nothing traditional about the festival in Guangxi ( 廣西 ). “We never heard of it when we grew up,” said a 67-year-old farmer during one of my recent trips to the city. On the contrary, the traditional view was that dog meat was “dirty meat” from stolen pets. In ancient times, Chinese... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1976819/no-defence-pseudo-chinese-custom-dog-eating?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1976819/no-defence-pseudo-chinese-custom-dog-eating?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 18 Jun 2016 02:00:00 +0000 This month, the National People’s Congress is soliciting public comments on four draft laws. One is the revision of the Wildlife Protection Law, which came into effect in 1989. Ironically, the law, supposedly designed to protect wildlife species, has witnessed the enormous rise of a wildlife exploitation industry unlike anything in China’s past. READ MORE: ‘Too delicious’ – panda caretaker accused of eating protected birds and bragging on social media In 2003, the State Forestry Bureau, the... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1906612/seeing-animals-resource-cruel-substitute-real-wildlife?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/1906612/seeing-animals-resource-cruel-substitute-real-wildlife?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 29 Jan 2016 05:00:30 +0000