The Heritage Foundation, a U.S. think tank, has issued a new report warning that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is using fentanyl as a tool of “asymmetric warfare” to destabilize the United States. Experts are urging the federal government to take stronger actions in response.
In a report titled “Hold China and Mexico Accountable for America’s Fentanyl Crisis,” released on Monday, the foundation highlighted the fundamental difference of this crisis compared to the long-standing illegal drug challenge in the U.S., where fentanyl has caused numerous deaths directly sourced from the CCP.
Analysts cautioned that the CCP regime is attempting to establish a new way to wage asymmetric warfare against the American people, aiming to disrupt the country’s stability.
The report, authored by analysts Andrés Martínez-Fernández and Andrew J. Harding, emphasized that while holding China (CCP) and Mexico accountable would come at a high political and economic cost, it would pale in comparison to the losses suffered by American communities and the potentially millions of American lives at risk of dying due to fentanyl in the coming years.
Fentanyl presents the deadliest drug threat the U.S. has ever faced. In 2023, there were 108,000 drug overdose deaths in the U.S., with around 75,000 of them attributed to synthetic opioids, predominantly fentanyl.
“Nearly 200 Americans still die each day from fentanyl overdoses, posing a threat to the social, political, and economic health of America, poisoning the country from within,” the report stated.
Illegal fentanyl, produced in Mexico using precursor chemicals from China, is trafficked into the U.S. through drug cartels, often mixed with other substances to deceive users about the presence of fentanyl.
Efforts are underway by the U.S. government to stem the influx of fentanyl. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) estimated that in 2021 alone, the government seized enough fentanyl to kill every American.
Despite the well-known role of Mexican drug cartels in this crisis, the actions of the CCP remain largely unknown to the public, according to the analysts.
“In fact, most Americans are unaware that the CCP is actively funding, supporting, and driving the deadliest drug threat America has ever faced,” they wrote, highlighting how the deadly collaboration between Mexican drug cartels and the CCP poses a destabilizing crisis, resulting in more deaths annually than the total U.S. casualties in the Vietnam War.
Congressional reports revealed direct CCP subsidies for the production and export of illicit fentanyl materials, including a rebate scheme encouraging the export of 14 fentanyl precursors. In 2020, the CCP even raised the rebate to 13%, the highest potential subsidy for exported products at that time.
These Chinese-manufactured chemicals are found entering Mexico through air, postal, and sea routes, with parallel organizations from the CCP supporting global fentanyl networks, including direct involvement in smuggling, producing, and distributing fentanyl in various regions such as Toronto.
While the Biden administration has taken steps to address the fentanyl crisis, including increasing access to treatment, boosting funding and technology at border crossings, and imposing sanctions on dozens involved in smuggling, the analysts cautioned that these efforts may be hollow. They warned that the CCP is likely to exploit negotiations to extract concessions from the U.S.
The report pointed out that throughout most of the Biden administration’s tenure, the CCP refused to discuss the issue with the U.S., instead leveraging drug-related deaths to manipulate geopolitics, seeking the suspension of human rights sanctions in exchange for resuming drug enforcement negotiations.
Following the U.S.-China summit last year, where the CCP indicated readiness to cooperate and announced controls on three chemicals used in fentanyl production, the authors argued that the Chinese statements failed to impose substantive costs on the chemical industry, allowing profitable fentanyl precursor production to continue as long as suppliers evade longstanding rules.
“If historical patterns repeat, the Biden administration’s fentanyl diplomacy is unlikely to curb this deadly menace,” they underscored.
The report also criticized the “collusion” between corrupt Mexican officials and drug trafficking organizations.
It recommended the U.S. acknowledge the lack of sincere cooperative partners in China (CCP) and the Mexican governments. The authors proposed that the U.S. pressure intelligence agencies to publicly disclose CCP involvement in fentanyl trafficking, increase penalties for financial institutions, and promote the transfer of the U.S. pharmaceutical supply chain from China to the U.S. and its competitive allies and partners, including regions like the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico.
“If the U.S. government continues to passively accept the fentanyl crisis as just another illegal drug challenge without stopping CCP’s support for this deadly trade, hundreds of thousands or even millions of Americans will be at risk of losing their lives,” the report concluded.