Beijing asks for return of 153 loggers given life sentence by Myanmar court

Beijing has voiced criticism over the sentencing of 153 Chinese citizens to life in prison by a court in Myanmar for illegal logging, South China Morning Post reported. The loggers had been arrested in January after a raid in the Yunnan-adjacent state of Kachin, where loggers doing business with local rebels had continued smuggling wood into China despite Myanmar’s government banning timber exports in 2014. Foreign ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said China’s government had asked Myanmar to “return those people to China as soon as possible.” For more on China’s porous borders see CER’s recent in-depth report.