China will be able to stand on its own feet to meet domestic demand for timber, the State Forestry Administration (SFA) said Monday.

Cao Qingyao, an SFA spokesman, said the Chinese government has been striving to meet domestic demand for timber and logs through fostering fast-growing and high-yield economic forests.

He acknowledged that China is working to expand the timber production base to some 13.3 million hectares by 2015, producing at least 200 million cubic meters of logs, ample for domestic consumption.

In the meantime, the Chinese government has imposed a rigid ban on logging in natural forests at home, a move some countries accused of resulting in deforestation in and timber smuggling from Russia, Myanmar and some southeast Asian countries.

However, Cao said China's logging ban does not pose any threats to forest protection in other countries. He said, in contrast it's a responsible approach of ecological protection and will bring benefits to the whole world.

He also said that China will impose tough countermeasures to curb the illegal cross-border timber trade and has set up a series of cooperation schemes with neighboring countries to crack down on timber smuggling.

Cao expressed the hope that the related countries could beef up management and law enforcement to eliminate illegal logging and timber smuggling from the root.

Source: Xinhua