China yawns over role in U.S. opioid epidemic
Beijing defiant over role in drug problem killing tens of thousands each year as little attention paid to issue.
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Summary: China has rebuffed pleas from the United States to stop dumping raw materials for fentanyl production in Mexico, a primary source of the drugs now causing the U.S. opioid epidemic. Meanwhile, tens of thousands continue to die of overdoses each year.
In the aftermath of the debacle over the U.S. government allowing a spy balloon from China to enter the United States, we've seen an all too familiar shift in Beijing's messaging. China has changed its turn from being contrite over the incursion to deflecting blame, calling justifiable accusations a "smear" campaign.
But we're seeing the defiance from China in another development with arguably a greater impact on everyday Americans: The dumping raw materials in Mexico used for fentanyl productions, which drug cartels then develop and send across the border to the United States.
The end product is an opioid epidemic that contributes to the national rot in the United States by killing an estimated tens of thousands each year. A total of 107,375 Americans died of drug overdoses and drug poisonings in the 12-month period ending in January 2022, and 67 percent of those overdoses were the result of fentanyl-based based drugs, according to the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention.
True to form, China is publicly taking no responsibility for its actions. In a condescending letter last week, China's Foreign Ministry blames the opioid epidemic on "societal problems" and a "drug culture" in the United States, repeatedly insisting the opioid epidemic is a problem of our own making:
The drug problem of America is a long-standing and deep-rooted disease that is yet to be cured. The U.S. government has not done enough to raise public awareness of the harm of narcotic drugs; the measures it took to reduce drug demand are ineffective; and its drug control actions produce poor results. The United States should face its own problem squarely, take actions to deal with the domestic issue of prevalent drug abuse, and protect the American people's right to life and health, instead of shying away from the problem.
The Weekly Dystopia is well aware of the chronic unhappiness in the United States, which has framed the fundamental basis for this newsletter. But we'd be a lot less unhappy if China would stop dumping the raw materials in Mexico that are now coming across our border. The sooner it stops the better off we all are.
The Biden administration has been pushing China to cease dumping the raw materials in Mexico. In December, U.S. Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns made a video presented at a Chicago Council on Global Affairs urging Beijing to cut off the supply.
“We’re trying to work with the government of China here to say please crack down on those illicit Chinese firms and help us to deal with this major problem in the United States,” Burns said in the video.
But those efforts appear to be of little avail. The situation has also constrained the United States. Being forced into position to have to work with China on limiting the distribution of fentanyl materials makes confronting Beijing on matters like the spy balloon, trade or human rights issues more difficult.
Not helping is the increased tension between the United States and China over a widely feared invasion of Taiwan. Upon former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan last year, China suspended talks with U.S. officials on working together over the opioid epidemic.
China's dumping of fentanyl materials across the Pacific is well documented. According to a 2020 intelligence report from the Drug Enforcement Agency, China "remains the primary source of fentanyl and fentanyl-related substances trafficked through international mail and express consignment operations environment, as well as the main source for all fentanyl-related substances trafficked into the United States."
Seizures of fentanyl sourced from China, the report finds, often test above 90 percent concentration of pure fentanyl. Keep in mind fentanyl is very lethal and just two milligrams of the synthetic opioid, comparable 10 to 15 grains of table salt is a lethal dose, according to CDC data.
Although DEA concedes China implemented in 2019 new measures aimed at controlling fentanyl production, the report concludes drug cartels in Mexico are finding alternate sources for the materials to create the drug sent to the United States.
Vendors in China have also found a way to get around the 2019 restrictions. According to analysis from National Public Radio and the Center for Advanced Defense Studies, these vendors have “tapped into online networks to brazenly market fentanyl analogs and the precursor chemicals used to make fentanyl, and ship them directly to customers in the U.S. and Europe as well as to Mexican cartels.”
The State Department insists efforts to combat the opioid crisis on the international front continue, as Biden administration officials testified this week during before the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee.
Todd Robinson, assistant secretary for international narcotics and law enforcement, said the State Department “has made clear we must bring the full power of American diplomacy to this challenge,” although the emphasis appeared to focus more on Mexico’s role.
”[W]e will approach countries and other partners through the lens of joint responsibility for action,” Robinson said. “Most fentanyl seized in the United States is synthesized in Mexico using precursor chemicals sourced primarily from the PRC and then trafficked via the U.S. southern border. Our enduring security cooperation with Mexico is critical to our efforts to address fentanyl trafficking."
Other public officials are increasingly calling on the Biden administration to do more on China's role in the opioid crisis. Just before Secretary of State Anthony Blinken canceled his planned trip to Beijing over the spy balloon fiasco, a group of 14 Republicans led by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) urged the Biden administration to step up the pressure on China over the "fentanyl crisis" among other issues, as recently reported by CNN.
"The CCP is also responsible for fueling the fentanyl crisis in our county, a scourge which has, and continues, to kill Americans," the letter says.
We may not get any new commitment from China on cutting off supply for fentanyl production. If that continues, it will be another example of China actively working to undermine the United States on the global stage from the inside out. The harm will be real as tens of thousands continue to die each year.