Why China Won’t Stop the Fentanyl Trade

11 comments

1. Michael Schuman: “The United States won’t be able to solve the fentanyl crisis without help from its greatest rival. China is the world’s largest supplier of the chemicals that drug smugglers use to produce the opioid, and the country’s regulators have proved that they can stem its spread on the black market—when they’re so inclined. But despite pressure from Washington, Chinese leaders have not done nearly as much as they could to crack down on the illicit-fentanyl trade. For Beijing, the opioid that kills tens of thousands of Americans every year is a source of political leverage that it won’t easily give up.

   “Chinese officials still decry the opium crisis that foreign traders seeded two centuries ago. The country’s long memory informs the regime’s regulation of domestic drug dealing and use, which it polices and prosecutes severely. But Beijing denies its role in the drug trade beyond its borders. As a spokesperson for the foreign ministry said in May, ‘Fentanyl is the U.S.’s problem, not China’s.’

   “Now President Donald Trump is making a renewed effort to hold China accountable. Earlier this year, he imposed tariffs in retaliation for the country’s refusal to act firmly to rein in the trade. At least for now, Beijing appears willing to strengthen controls. In late June, regulators announced new restrictions on two chemicals used in fentanyl production. But China’s record of cooperation has been erratic, fluctuating from moment to moment depending on the state of U.S.-China relations. And any further assistance likely won’t come cheap. Chinese leaders are well aware that fentanyl is a bigger problem for the United States than it is for China. Before entering any new agreement, they will withhold ‘cooperation as a piece of leverage’ until they can extract ‘certain guarantees or the right price,’ Amanda Hsiao, a director in the China practice at the political-risk consultancy Eurasia Group, told me.”

   Read more: [https://theatln.tc/HSMRby4S](https://theatln.tc/HSMRby4S) 

2. Another economic war for the sake of an overblown public hysteria in the US that’s basically just an excuse to give more power to police departments and crack down on minority communities. Fun.

3. China is not responsible for US internal problems.

   And frankly why should China bend over to help the country that has for the last decade repeatedly declared China it’s number one enemy?

   There is no trust or good will nor tentative (failed or otherwise) of building such things.

4. At the same time America is not taking any serious measures to deal with the fentanyl crisis itself, China has a part in producing the precursor chemicals but the drugs themselves are being manufactured to meet demand in the US from labs in Mexico rather than flooding the country with them as part of a geopolitical plan. Making the precursor chemicals and selling them is just business for China with a welcome side effect of weakening their rival.

   As for opium, it’s important to note China undertook campaigns in the 1930s and 1950s under the nationalists and communists to eradicate opium growing and rehabilitate opium addicts, and it was not an easy or pleasant policy and instead took a lot of force to succeed.

5. China’s not shutting down the fentanyl pipeline because it’s a geopolitical bargaining chip — keeps pressure on the U.S. without firing a single shot. They tighten controls when it suits them, loosen when they want leverage. Meanwhile, America’s stuck arguing over border walls and TikTok bans while synthetic opioids flood in through every crack in the system. It’s not just a drug problem, it’s a diplomacy problem dressed up as a domestic crisis.

6. America’s fentanyl problem isn’t a supply chain issue. Our drug problem and opioid epidemic is a public health issue with roots in all of society — education, available jobs, collapse of community, for-profit health care, and much much more. It’s a demand issue, not a supply issue, and the demand is shaped by way more complex factors.

7. The US went to war for way, way less. Fentanyl crisis death toll is several magnitudes higher than, let’s say, 9/11. I have a hard time believing the US could not stop the fentanyl crisis if they really wanted to. Cartels are no match for the US forces or intelligence services. The opioid crisis has a high five digit death toll annually.

8. Considering that the US is trying to move factories out of China, I believe they will definitely find a way to move the fentanyl precursor factories out as well.

9. Why would they? It’s cheap and hugely expensive and disruptive to adversarial nations.

   Cherry in top is that domestic politicians are too dumb to point their finger at China for it, and would rather blame their neighbours and their own people.

10. So is it the fault of the Chinese if Americans get high on fentanyl to death? 

    And if it’s a great business, why doesn’t China expand into Europe as well? 

    Americans bear total responsibility for what happens with fentanyl overdoses. Once again, the blond president was able to misinform and distract from the real responsibilities of this tragedy 
    If China blocks everything, overdoses will not magically disappear, but that demand for drugs will be met with other routes. 

    It is the demand that is the real problem, not the supply 

11. One possible mitigation: Can the cartels and their subordinates be declared a terrorist so anyone dealing with them would be under pressure to stop dealing?

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