Asian Journal of Criminal Justice and Forensic Studies

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  • Vol. 2, No. 1, 2026

  • Criminal liability for illegal logging and transboundary timber trade in China and Indonesia (2010-2025)

  • Received 19.01.2026,
  • Revised 26.04.2026,
  • Accepted 11.06.2026
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Vol. 2, No. 1, 2026
  • environmental security; economic stability; international obligations; environmental protection sector; sanctions
  • https://doi.org/0.63621/ajcjfs/1.2026.26
  • Pages 26-37

This study aimed to define the peculiarities of criminal and legal countermeasures against illegal logging and timber trafficking in China and Indonesia. The methods of comparative law, normative-dogmatic and institutional legal were used in conjunction with analysis of the national legislations of China and Indonesia, international treaties and analytical reports, as well as satellite and statistical data of Global Forest Watch and materials of specialised institutions for 2010-2025. The article revealed that in 2010-2025, Indonesia had the maximum rates of forest losses in 2010-2016, which was 1.3-2.4 million ha per year, while the annual rate of forest loss in China was relatively stable (350-450 thousand ha per year in 2020-2024), which testifies to different scopes of pressure on forest resources. The legislation analysis revealed that China has developed a model of criminalisation of illegal logging (punishment of up to seven years of imprisonment and significant fines) and supporting centralised mechanisms of administrative regulation, while Indonesia has created a complex system to counteract organised logging networks (fines of up to ten billion Indonesian rupiahs) and quasi-criminal control through the Sistem Verifikasi Legalitas Kayu. The findings further indicate that international environmental and trade treaties served as normative regulators of the development of criminal and legal countermeasures against illegal logging and timber trafficking in China and Indonesia in 2010-2025. In China, the formally stipulated maximum penalties for illegal logging and timber trafficking are in fact not regularly applied to all forest crimes but are selectively reserved for particularly large and organised offences. A tendency has been identified towards reclassifying environmental crimes as customs or trade offences, which further reduces the potential deterrence of criminal law in China. Indonesia shows a greater congruence between the formal stipulations and judicial reality: When it comes to organised timber-extraction networks, sentence stacking is commonly applied, that is, prison sentences, the confiscation of assets and fines of up to 5-10 billion Indonesian rupiahs are imposed. The practical relevance of these results stems from their usefulness to criminal-justice and legislative stakeholders in improving forest crime countermeasures

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