When China President Xi Jinping visited Tanzania in March 2013, his intention was to promote a mutually beneficial relationship between the two countries. He may not have been aware that his visit, his first to Africa as leader of the world's second-largest economy, was in fact used by members of his delegation as an opportunity to procure so much illegal ivory that the price of the item doubled to about US$700 per kilogram.

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This story is among the contents of a new report by a London-based  NGO, the Environmental Investigation Agency, which exposed the role not only of criminal syndicates led by Chinese residing in Tanzania but of Chinese government and military officials as well in the proliferation of the ivory trade. 

The illegal ivory business has contributed to a drastic reduction of the elephant population in the East African country, from 142,000 in 2005 when President Jakaya Kikwete started his term, to an expected 55,000 only by next year when he steps down. All domestic and international trade in ivory is banned in Tanzania. 

The IEA, in its report titled "Vanishing Point - Criminality, Corruption and the Devastation of Tanzania's Elephants," details how Tanzania's elephants are being slaughtered at enormous numbers to feed a thriving ivory trade in China. It also recalls several instances, some very recent, where Chinese government and military officials either had a direct hand in, or turned a blind eye on, the illegal ivory trade, which has undoubtedly made some Chinese criminals - and Tanzanian officials - wealthy. 

About two weeks before President Xi's arrival in Tanzania last year, Chinese businessmen, according to the EIA report, went on an illegal ivory buying spree, purchasing thousands of pounds of ivory which were later "sent to China in diplomatic bags on the presidential plane."

"Your president, he was here," a Tanzanian ivory smuggler identified as Suleiman Mochiwa said in a hidden camera footage provided by the organization. He was referring to President Xi. "When he was here, many kilos go out on his plane with the escort. They buy from us."

In December last year, a Chinese naval fleet docked in the Tanzanian port of Dar Es Salaam for four days of cultural exchanges. That visit spurred a surge in business for local ivory traders. One dealer even boasted earning US$50,000 from sales to Chinese naval personnel. It was at this time when a Chinese named Yu Bo was arrested by Tanzanian police while trying to sneak in 81 tusks into the port. Yu was sentenced to 20 years in prison and fined US$5.6 million - the only person brought to justice due to the ivory trade since 2009.

The EIA report cited many more cases of corruption by Tanzanian officials, and even mentioned President Kikwete and other members of the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi (CCM) party as condoning the illegal ivory trade.