‘Can we stop this?’: senior Hong Kong environment official halts BBC interview about ivory trade

Hong Kong’s deputy environment minister told journalists to turn off their cameras after she was asked why a list of the city’s legal ivory traders could not be made public.

“I don’t know, actually, I am not quite sure how to answer this question,” undersecretary for environment Christine Loh Kung-wai told the BBC during an interview published today.

“I think you have to ask one of our … can we not take this on?” said Loh, motioning her fingers as she looked at the camera. “[Because] I just simply don’t know.”

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“But it’s your list, isn’t it?” the journalist asked.

“Can we stop this? Can we agree to stop this?” said Loh as she extended her hands gesturing the crew to stop filming. The video footage later showed the senior official standing up.

The city’s notorious ivory trade was the focal point of the interview. In January, Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying announced Hong Kong would ban the import and export of ivory – a move regarded as historic by animal welfare activists.

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But campaigners against the ivory trade have been pressing the government to publicise a list of legal ivory traders in the city, arguing it would improve transparency in the secretive trade and help them verify whether rules were being enforced.

While Environment Secretary Wong Kam-sing said in 2014 the administration would consider the idea, last year an Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department spokesman turned it down.

The spokesman said a public list “would involve disclosure of personal information and those related to the business of the licensees, which is considered inappropriate.”

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Loh told the Post she did not want to comment on the BBC report, but said it did not offer the government an opportunity to explain the matter.

“I felt sorry so I was being candid [in the interview]...I was indeed not familiar with that particular detail of that policy,” said the undersecretary, who added she immediately arranged for another department official to speak with the BBC the same day she was interviewed.

Loh said that making the list public might raise privacy concerns and that the government shared the list with the Customs and Excise Department whenever needed.