On November 10, the Communist Party of China officially announced that the United States, Mexico, and Canada have been included in the list of countries subject to the management of “export-controlled precursor chemicals.” However, investigations have shown that Chinese chemicals play a key role in the global drug trade. It was reported that the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the United States, Kash Patel, visited China last week to discuss fentanyl and law enforcement matters.
Legal scholar Yuan Hongbing, based in Australia, believes that the Chinese Communist Party uses drugs to weaken Western countries like the US and Europe, hence there is no rush to tighten control over fentanyl exports. He revealed that as early as 2019, under the leadership of Xi Jinping, a so-called “national strategy” was formulated to ship precursor chemicals of drugs to specific countries such as Australia, the US, and Europe. Xi Jinping sees the proliferation of fentanyl in these countries as a tangible manifestation of his strategy for China’s rise and the West’s decline.
On November 10, five departments including the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Public Security of China announced the addition of the United States, Mexico, and Canada to the list of “specific countries (regions),” and separately listed 13 easily manufactured precursor chemicals for these three countries.
Effective immediately, exports of chemicals listed in Part 1 of Appendix 1 to the US, Mexico, and Canada must apply for permits in accordance with the “Interim Management Regulations for the Export of Precursor Chemicals to Specific Countries (Regions),” while exports to other countries do not require permits.
Earlier, Reuters cited two informed sources stating that FBI Director Kash Patel visited China last week to discuss fentanyl and law enforcement matters. A source familiar with the visit mentioned that Patel arrived in Beijing last Friday and stayed for about a day.
Xie Peixue, Deputy Researcher at the Institute for Network Security and Decision Simulations at the Taiwan Institute of National Defense Studies, told Epoch Times on Monday that the situation is akin to a cat-and-mouse game. “Once a certain chemical is internationally regulated, Chinese manufacturers can quickly adjust the formula, synthesize a chemical with a slightly different molecular structure, escape regulation, and legally export it to easily circumvent control measures.”
Last month, during the “Xi-Trump Summit” held in Busan, South Korea, both sides reached a consensus on cooperation to combat fentanyl. On November 4, the US reduced tariffs on Chinese imports related to fentanyl issues to 10%, fulfilling a key aspect of the trade agreement reached with Xi Jinping.
Yuan Hongbing also told Epoch Times that the tariff reduction by Trump regarding fentanyl issues to 10% is appeasing, “It cannot address the crisis caused by the Chinese Communist Party exporting fentanyl worldwide or alleviate the crisis it poses to the United States. Xi Jinping, at a fundamental strategic level, will not tighten control over fentanyl exports.”
Currently, the Chinese Communist Party has only strengthened management of fentanyl precursors exported to the US, Mexico, and Canada. However, investigations have shown that Chinese chemicals have become a key driver of the global drug trade, and the Chinese authorities have not taken adequate action in this regard.
Just before the announcement of this control by the Chinese authorities, The Washington Post reported on November 8 that the media’s investigation found that Chinese manufacturers are rapidly shipping increasing amounts of precursor chemicals for crystal methamphetamine to Southeast Asia, where local warlords and criminal organizations have been producing and trafficking record quantities of crystal methamphetamine, triggering a drug crisis in the Asia-Pacific region.
The Washington Post’s investigation drew from intelligence documents, enforcement briefings, customs records, chemical seizure photos, and interviews with over forty individuals involved in monitoring or participating in the drug trade. The investigation revealed startling and previously unknown similarities between the situations in the Asia-Pacific region and the Americas.
American law enforcement personnel stationed in Southeast Asia revealed that Washington has sanctioned numerous Chinese companies exporting precursor chemicals for fentanyl to Latin American drug trafficking groups. The latest intelligence reveals that these companies are also supplying the raw materials needed for methamphetamine production to Myanmar’s warlords and criminal organizations.
US officials describe this as evidence that the fentanyl crisis in America and the rampant spread of crystal methamphetamine in Asia actually stem from the “same Chinese chemical supply chain.”
“China (CCP) has greatly spurred the flourishing of this industry,” said John Coyne, Director of the National Security Project at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute and a former Australian police officer. He emphasized that without China’s industrial and organized crime involvement, the industrial production of crystal methamphetamine in Southeast Asia “would simply not be feasible.”
Data obtained by The Washington Post indicates that many legally registered chemical enterprises in China openly sell chemicals that can be used to manufacture crystal methamphetamine on e-commerce platforms, even offering “one-stop” services to help buyers disguise items, evade customs inspections, and conduct transactions with virtual currencies like Bitcoin.
In response, Yuan Hongbing stated, “The military government in Myanmar has now become a political force nurtured by the Chinese Communist Party’s tyranny. Northern Myanmar has basically become a political, economic, and cultural colony of Chinese tyranny, and even a military colony. The Chinese Communist Party has turned northern Myanmar into the largest source of drug production and export in the world.”
According to The Washington Post, the San Francisco-based blockchain intelligence company TRM Labs identified over 120 similar Chinese chemical companies last year as precursor suppliers, almost all of which accept payment in cryptocurrencies.
The company found that deposits in cryptocurrency wallets associated with these companies grew by over 600% between 2022 and 2023, doubling in the first four months of 2024 compared to the same period last year. In 2023, these wallets received over $26 million in deposits.
TRM also discovered that nearly two-thirds of fentanyl precursor sellers also sell precursors for other drugs, including ecstasy in Western Europe, methcathinone in Russia, and crystal methamphetamine in Asia.
In a report, TRM’s Senior Threat Analyst Alois Afelipeo said, “We are realizing that this is not just about fentanyl, nor is it limited to the US alone. China is the epicenter of the global illicit drug crisis.”
Xie Peixue believes that the Chinese authorities are reluctant to rigorously control the export of crystal methamphetamine and fentanyl precursors because China is the world’s largest producer of chemicals with very high industry profits. “Cracking down on crystal methamphetamine and fentanyl, prohibiting the export of these related precursor chemicals, will actually affect its profits.”
Yuan Hongbing revealed, “The strategy of producing precursor chemical products of drugs and strategically targeting specific regions and countries was directly led by Xi Jinping. Before this, during the Trump 1.0 era, the US raised the issue of precursor chemicals for fentanyl with China, but it was never resolved. The fundamental reason is Xi Jinping’s directive, which discusses how Western powers once imported opium into the Qing Dynasty, launching the Opium Wars, and used drugs to weaken the country’s defense forces. Now that the tables have turned, the fentanyl epidemic in the US is an American problem and has nothing to do with us (China). This is a concrete manifestation of China’s rise and the West’s decline.”
This is the essence of Xi Jinping’s directive. “He has a very comprehensive directive. According to Xi Jinping’s directive, the fentanyl problem, or China’s drug export problem, cannot be eradicated because it is a decision made directly by Xi Jinping.”
Based on reports from conscientious individuals within the Chinese system, Xi Jinping led the Chinese authorities to make this strategic decision as early as 2019. “The specific targets for deployment were Australia, the US, and Europe.”
Yuan Hongbing said, “This is a fundamental national strategy of the Chinese Communist Party’s tyranny. So far, almost no country or international organization has truly realized this. This is the key issue.”
He further disclosed that drug production is a high-return industry, and many state-owned enterprises are eager to join the production of precursor chemical products for drugs to seek high profits. “This is the fundamental reason why drugs have not only been curbed so far but have instead worsened.”