China intensifies crackdown on invasive species

The country's quarantine authority is stepping up efforts to detect harmful non-native species, as strengthened global interactions have brought more insects and viruses that may pose severe threats to the country.

More than 22,000 packages of plant seeds and sprouts amounting to 80 metric tons were intercepted at China's entry ports in an eight-month campaign that cracked down on illegally bringing and mailing seeds and sprouts into the country since March, and nearly 14,200 of them were found to contain harmful species.

The number of seeds and sprouts illegally carried and mailed into China has increased rapidly as the country's global interaction grows through travel and trade, and as shopping from overseas e-commerce platforms matures, said Chen Maosheng, deputy director of the department of supervision on animal and plant quarantine under the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine. The means of carrying such contraband also is becoming subtler, Chen added.