Though the official statement is to be released on Thursday, speaking to The Pioneer , Rajesh Gopal, member secretary, National Tiger Conservation Authority, said the Government had made its stand and concerns clear to the Chinese delegation visiting India, though a further round of talks is expected to take place.

Just two weeks short of the conference on CITES (Convention in International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna) at The Hague, a eight-member delegation from China's State Forestry Administration, led by Li Yucai, Vice-Administrator of SFA, is here in India to discuss and press for India's support for trading in tiger bones within their country.

One of the top items on the agenda of the CITES meeting at The Hague in early-June is tiger conservation, and the issue of lifting the ban is also likely to come up for debate. India has been a leading voice in tiger conservation and has strongly opposed any move to relax rules governing the ban on the trade in tiger body parts at previous CITES meetings and other fora.

The Chinese delegation is ostensibly in New Delhi to discuss various wildlife conservation matters like trans-border conservation, aforestation, enforcement - issues that are part of a Memorandum of Understanding signed by the two countries during the Chinese President's visit. And though these issues are very much on their agenda, there is little doubt that their main purpose is to enlist India's support for revoking the 1993 ban on domestic trade in tiger parts. Also, part of the agenda is to revive the Indo-China Tiger Protocol, signed over a decade back, which also includes a clause on sustainable use of tigers.

Legally China is free to 'sell' its tiger derivatives domestically, and CITES can only regulate international trade. However, if they do go ahead, they will earn bad Press and be labelled anti-conservation. This is something China does not need with the Shanghai Olympics coming up.

The Chinese maintain that they want the ban revoked to "save the tiger". Sell the tiger to save it. Farm it and sell its bones, which they assert, will take the heat off wild tigers that are killed for their skins and bones, and thus conserve tigers in the wild.

Conservationists and scientists worldwide have rubbished the Chinese position. According to them, this will only ensure open season on wild tigers, which are killed for bones, skins and other body parts.

"We fear that opening up trade, even internal trade, will put pressure on wild tiger populations and make them more vulnerable to poaching. Legal trade in bones will provide just the right cover for bones from poached tigers to be laundered in the market, thus fuelling illegal trade. How can we ensure that this does not happen? Where are the mechanisms? Are there any safety protocols? How will 'legal' or 'illegal' bone be differentiated? These issues have not been addressed," stresses Gopal.

He adds that the demand for tiger bones is attributed to their "virility and potency", which many believe is not contained in the farmed products. Various surveys have indicated that consumers would still prefer wild tiger derivatives, so how does that reduce the demand for bones of wild tigers? Gopal also expressed his concern over the mushrooming of tiger farms.

The Chinese delegation had argued that strict protection of tigers had failed to protect the tiger in all its ranges - but it was told that hunting had almost wiped off the tiger when strict legal protection and conservation initiatives under the umbrella of Project Tiger in 1972 had given it a reprieve, and till today, India has the maximum number of wild tigers.

Moreover, other species like the greater one-horned rhinocerous and the Asiatic lion, both had been pulled back from the brink, only due to strict protection measures.

The US, which will be present at The Hague convention, has declared open war on China's move, and will be strongly opposing it. Todd Williams, who is the head of the US delegation to the CITES, told US lawmakers that "authorising such trade will create an illegal market for the tiger farms that already exist in China, but more importantly, would provide a cover for poached tiger products to enter the market".

At present, China has more than 5,000 captive tigers in farms, which are owned by private businessmen across the country and tiger meat and wine is openly sold in that country, though it is illegal and they want the trade to be opened officially.