In order to facilitate its traditional medicine industry, a Chinese delegation of State Forestry Administration (SFA) officials is in New Delhi to discuss, among other things, to lift the ban on trade in tiger products. The eight-member delegation, led by Li Yucai, Vice-Administrator of SFA, has also invited the Indian delegation to China for further discussions in July.

India has raised concerns on the issue but did not completely rule out the idea of tiger farms. “The Chinese delegation is contemplating on that but haven’t given anything to us in writing. We have made our concerns clear that captive farming has never really helped. They have to convince the international lobby, including Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, before we agree,” said Ministry official.

The issue was first raised last November when a Chinese delegation discussed the modalities of segregating “farm and wild products” with the Ministry of Environment of Forests.

The Indian team, led by DG MoEF GK Prasad, raised two main concerns. “One was security protocol. How will it be ensured that wild tigers are not being traded in the garb of captive breeding? Second, how will they convince their people that farm-bred tigers have the same medicinal properties as wild tigers,” said the official.