Myanmar Illegal Logging Sentencing Strains Relations With China

[Jonathan Fairfield]

Myanmar Illegal Logging Sentencing Strains Relations With China

By TE-PING CHEN

BEIJING— Myanmar’s jailing of scores of Chinese allegedly caught illegally logging is deepening a rift between Beijing and Yangon, and highlighting the stress on the country’s forests from China’s demand for wood.

This week, a court in Myitkyina, the capital of the Kachin state, sentenced 153 Chinese nationals to life imprisonment after they were found involved in illegal logging, according to the Myanmar government.

The Chinese foreign ministry said Wednesday that it lodged a diplomatic protest with Yangon over the ruling and urged the country to “take China’s concerns seriously, take all the factors into account and properly handle this case.”

Ye Htut, Myanmar presidential spokesman, said that the government’s action is consistent with the law and that the loggers have the right to appeal the sentences.

A Myanmar defense lawyer said life sentences in Myanmar are typically treated as 20- to 25-year terms.

Read more: http://www.wsj.com/articles/myanmar-illegal-logging-sentencing-strains-relations-with-china-1437668883

[daoyai]

Resouce rapists (china) should be dealt with harshly.

[FangFerang]

Obviously, some involved are from 'well-connected' families in China.