As China pushes traditional medicine globally, illegal wildlife trade flourishes

Workers weigh herbs behind a bust portraying Chinese herbalist Li Shizhen of the Ming dynasty, at a traditional Chinese medicine store in Beijing, China June 7, 2015. Picture taken June 7, 2015. REUTERS/Stringer

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Chinese traditional medicine is rapidly expanding worldwide as a key pillar of the country's Belt and Road initiative, but conservation groups say demand for treatments using animal products is driving a surge in illegal trafficking of wildlife.

Since the start of the year, authorities in the Chinese territory of Hong Kong have seized record volumes of threatened species, including 8.3 tonnes of pangolin scales from nearly 14,000 pangolins and its largest ever haul of rhino horns, worth more than $1 million.