(RoyalPatriot.com )- Large Chinese drug networks are contributing to the U.S. fentanyl crisis, which Beijing has little motivation to address given the state of its relations with the United States.
According to Craig Singleton, a senior scholar at the nonpartisan Foundation for Defense of Democracies, China has been the primary source of fentanyl flooding America’s illicit drug market since around 2013.
The U.S. government agrees with Singleton’s assessment of the problem; according to a Drug Enforcement Administration report from 2020, China is the primary source of fentanyl and drugs related to it that are trafficked to the country, as well as the largest source of trafficking via “international mail and express consignment.”
Fentanyl seizures from China frequently weigh less than one kilogram yet have concentrations of pure fentanyl that are more than 90%.
Chinese drug cartels have used the internet to market fentanyl and the chemicals necessary to create it, a 2020 NPR investigation claims, frequently selling and shipping the drugs directly to American buyers. Taking in supplies from China before smuggling the drugs across the border into the United States, Mexican drug cartels have also been significant users of the Chinese drug trade.
In 2019, the Chinese government responded to years of pressure by tightening regulations on the nation’s fentanyl production. As part of a settlement reached with the Trump administration, the Chinese government agreed to look into available fentanyl production sites, implement rigorous controls over the drug’s internet marketing, and take more drastic steps to enforce drug shipping laws.
The DEA expressed anticipation that China will soon relinquish its position as the top narcotic supplier to the U.S. due to the measures, which led to a considerable decline in the country’s illicit fentanyl trade.
Strong Chinese drug cartels have devised ingenious ways to circumvent the limits, concealing their activities with sophisticated networks originating in deep interior places and creating cutting-edge new shipping procedures to evade law police identification.
The deterioration of U.S.-China relations has undermined much of the progress since 2019. Chinese narcotics networks have evaded the law by producing and distributing fentanyl components, making enforcement difficult. China is unlikely to restore strict policing, which could increase human trafficking in China.
