China greatly values the protection of endangered species and has banned ivory trading, said China's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Liu Jianchao in Beijing Tuesday.

"China joined the CITES in 1981 and has strictly complied with the regulations," said Liu in a regular press conference. "China's efforts paid in wild life protection is widely recognized by international communities."

China banned the trade of ivory in 1991 after the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

John Seller, the CITES Senior Enforcement Officer, led a three-member investigation group to China on March 7, during which he checked the ivory processing and product trade in major Chinese cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou and Guangzhou.

Wan Ziming, an official from Administration Office of Import and Export of Endangered Species said that China has "spared no efforts" in wild life protection and specifically set up a inspection project for elephant poaching and illegal trade.

In China, ivory carving was once a high art, equal to carving arts of jade, stone, wood and bamboo. But since CITES, China has prohibited the trade of ivory all around the country.

In 1997, CITES phased out a policy, loosing the regulation on ivory trade conditionally and this drove many businessmen targeted China as the destination of ivory trade.

In May, 2004, China adopted a new policy, requiring all the markets earmarked the ivory products with unified icon to check the flow of the products and set up a database information system on all ivory products to ensure no illegal ivory enters the legal market.

"The management of ivory processing and product trade should realize the goals not only protecting wild animals but also being helpful to the inheriting of the cultural relics of human beings," Zhao Xuemin, SFA's deputy director, told the investigation group of CITES.

Source: Xinhua