First appeared on FOX: A new report shines a spotlight on China's role in fueling the ongoing fentanyl crisis in the United States and calls for further federal action against the communist geopolitical foe.
The Heritage Foundation released the report, titled “Holding China and Mexico Responsible for America's Fentanyl Crisis,” a copy of which was obtained early by Fox News Digital.
The report, by Andrés Martínez Fernández and Andrew J. Harding, points out the huge number of deaths linked to the drug, which can be fatal even in small doses, and is estimated to have killed 75,000 Americans in 2023.
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Chinese President Xi Jinping attended a dinner at the Elysee Palace in Paris on May 6, 2024. (Photo by Daniel Dorko/Hans Lukas/Hans Lukas via AFP)
“At the heart of this crisis is a complex international alliance linking America's greatest geopolitical adversaries with powerful international criminal organizations,” they said.
Authorities say illegal fentanyl is frequently manufactured in Mexico using precursors from China and smuggled across the border by drug cartels. Fentanyl is often mixed with other drugs so users don't realize they're ingesting it.
The authors argue that while Mexico's role in the crisis is widely known, little is known about China's actions.
“In fact, unknown to most Americans, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is actively funding, supporting and promoting the deadliest drug threat in American history. Mexico's dangerous drug cartels and the ambitions of a hostile China have combined to plunge America into a crisis of instability that is causing more American casualties each year than the total number of American casualties in the Vietnam War,” they wrote.
The authors point to congressional reports that find the Chinese Communist Party directly subsidizes the production and export of illicit fentanyl raw materials, as well as tax rebate programs that actually encourage the export of some fentanyl precursors, which they say undermines claims that China cannot control illicit activity by smugglers or identify which manufacturers are exporting them.
Hundreds of pounds of fentanyl and methamphetamine seized near Ensenada in October arrive to be dropped off at the headquarters of the Mexican Attorney General's Office in Tijuana, Mexico, Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2022. (Salwan Georges/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
“China may not have sufficient inspectors in its pharmaceutical chemical manufacturing industry to fully account for specific precursor shipments,” the researchers wrote.
The report finds that the chemicals arrive in Canada through air cargo, postal facilities and sea routes, and the authors point to reports of China's growing role in the Canadian network.
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The Biden administration has taken a range of steps to crack down on the fentanyl crisis, including expanding access to treatment and boosting funding and technology at ports of entry where most of the drug is seized. The report notes that the Treasury Department has imposed sanctions on dozens of individuals and entities involved in smuggling and is using diplomatic means to get China to promise tougher measures against suppliers.
But the authors warned that these successes “are likely to ring hollow,” arguing that China has historically used negotiations to extract other concessions from the United States.
“Furthermore, China's announcement: [its] “The chemical industry means that production of fentanyl precursors will remain profitable as long as suppliers can circumvent the rules, something that has been documented for years,” they continued. “If past patterns repeat themselves, the Biden Administration's fentanyl diplomacy is unlikely to curb this deadly scourge.”
The report also criticizes “collusion” between corrupt Mexican officials and drug traffickers and claims the government has abandoned the pretext of going after drug cartels.
The report recommends that the U.S. strategy must acknowledge “the lack of sincere partners in both the Chinese and Mexican governments.” Instead, it argues, the U.S. should ask U.S. intelligence agencies to publicly expose China's involvement in fentanyl trafficking, including by imposing increased penalties on financial institutions.
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They say the United States should encourage pharmaceutical supply chains to move away from China and back to regions with competitive advantage, as well as seek to expose Mexico's “complicity” in the crisis.
“If the US government continues to passively accept the fentanyl crisis as just another illegal drug problem and fails to stop the Chinese Communist Party from facilitating this deadly trade, hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Americans are at risk of losing their lives,” they said.
