US hails China's move to destroy tons of ivory

A worker sorts confiscated ivory products to be destroyed in Dongguan City, south China's Guangdong Province, Jan 6, 2014. (Xinhua/Li Xin)

The United States on Monday hailed China's move to destroy tons of ivory, calling it a "concrete action" in honoring commitments made between the two countries.

"The United States commends the government of the People's Republic of China for destroying more than five tons of ivory in Guangdong Province today," State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said in a statement.

A total of 6.1 tons of raw tusks and carved ivory pieces, seized by the Chinese government over the years, were dumped into two crushers and ground to rubble and ash at a ceremony held on Monday in Dongguan City, Guangdong.

The move, the first of its kind in China, was aimed to demonstrate the country's determination to discourage illegal ivory trade, protect wildlife and raise public awareness, said Zhang Jianlong, deputy head of the State Forestry Administration.

Harf called the event, together with U.S.' ivory crush in Denver, Colorado in November 2013, "a concrete action to realize commitments" made at the U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue in July 2013.

"Destroying illegal wildlife products demonstrates a strong commitment to ending wildlife trafficking, a global challenge with conservation, economic, health and security dimensions that affects all nations," she said.

"China's action, building on similar events held in the United States, Kenya, Gabon and the Philippines, will send a powerful message to wildlife poachers and traffickers and to the consumers of illegal wildlife products," she added.

Harf said officials from US Department of the Interior, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and American diplomats in China participated in the day-long event in Dongguan.