16 Monday September 2, 2019
FORUM
By Clifford A Kiracofe
Amid a debilitating opioid crisis wallop-
ing the US, President Donald Trump’s
recent diatribe against China over the
fentanyl row in his country repudiates
US law enforcement’s assertion that
both sides are working in tandem to
handle the situation.
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid and
has many variants. It has legal medical
uses just like semi-synthetic and natural
opioid pharmaceutical drugs. But there
is massive abuse of opioids of all kinds.
The US has been plagued by a drugs
crisis since the 1980s when the Reagan
administration announced its “War on
Drugs” to tackle the domestic problem.
Back then, cocaine from South America
began to flood the US. It was smuggled
through the Caribbean and Mexico by
organized crime gangs.
As the cocaine crisis worsened, more
and more heroin from South America
started entering the US.
Then, a new trend started. Addic-
tion to pharmaceutical opioids rapidly
increased as a result of corrupt US
doctors and pharmaceutical companies
pushing addictive prescription drugs on
unsuspecting patients. Major lawsuits
today target the problem of over-pre-
scription and corrupt manufacturing
and marketing practices of pharmaceu-
tical opioids.
Because many patients become ad-
dicted to prescription opioids which are
expensive, they turn to heroin that is a
cheaper substitute. Thus, they become
heroin addicts.
As fentanyl began to come into the
US, it was mixed with heroin. This is
because it is many times more powerful
than heroin so it boosts profits of the
drug dealers. Recently, fentanyl mixed
with inert elements has appeared in the
market. Being extremely powerful, fen-
tanyl easily leads to death when abused.
Three decades of the drugs crisis in
the US have led to the recent fentanyl
controversy, which originated about- The US clearly failed in its so-
called war on drugs and Americans are
evermore addicted. Many social factors
account for increasing addiction in the
US.
Today, the fentanyl crisis is not
limited to the US regions of Appalachia,
Midwest, and Northeast. It has struck
British Columbia, Alberta, and Ontario
in Canada. Some European countries
have also been affected.
The manufacture of fentanyl
requires specialized laboratories and
highly skilled technicians. US law
enforcement has to a large extent been
able to control illegal manufacture of
the narcotic. The drug mainly enters
the US from Canada and Mexico.
Former US president Barack Obama
began counternarcotics cooperation
with China. This cooperation developed
further under Trump and has had
successes. The US Drug Enforcement
Agency (DEA) has an office in Beijing
for decades.
According to DEA officials, coop-
eration with its professional Chinese
counterparts has been excellent. In fact,
solid cooperation has led to a desire on
the part of DEA to expand cooperation
with China.President Trump’s acerbic remarks
seem to indicate that he is not well
briefed on the issue. Is he relying on
John Bolton or Mike Pompeo for the
information? Has he had a full briefing
directly from DEA officials?
Fentanyl has no individual chemi-
cal signature to detect its origins. So it
is hard to assess whether it is coming
to the US directly from China or via
Canada, and whether the amount is
more than entering the country from
Mexico. India is considered an addi-
tional emerging source. India has a vast
pharmaceutical and chemicals sector
that can easily produce the fentanyl
class of drugs.
Unfortunately, Trump’s impulsive
behavior and reliance on hawkish advi-
sors has impaired Washington’s ability
to formulate an effective foreign policy.
It makes no sense to undermine US-
China cooperation on counternarcotics
just to engage in China-bashing to grab
media headlines and hype up the trade
war.
Dangerous drugs are an inter-
national problem. The cooperation
between China and the US on fentanyl
is important but it must be emphasized
that the context is global. Thus, the
United Nations and relevant European
organizations must play a significant
role to defeat the challenge posed by
international drug trafficking.The author is an educator and former senior
professional staff member of the Senate
Committee on Foreign Relations. opinion@
globaltimes.com.cnUS wants to use HK turmoil to weaken China
US pointing blaming finger at China for the opioid crisis betrays ignorance
Page Editor:
yujincui@
globaltimes.com.cnH
ong Kong has been
reeling with chaos for
over two months. Il-
legal rallies during which some
rioters attacked police with Mo-
lotov cocktails and bricks were
organized on Saturday, and the
boycott of classes by students,
which will pose a severe chal-
lenge to the Hong Kong Special
Administrative Region (SAR)
government and Hong Kong
police, is imminent.
Ignited by opposition to an
extradition bill, the chaos in
Hong Kong has developed into
unrest in which opposition
forces, together with external
forces, fuel anti-government
sentiment and launch political
movements in order to seize
control of Hong Kong SAR.
These forces intend to cooper-
ate with US attempt to compre-
hensively contain China.
Hong Kong is an open city,
where various Western institu-
tions and organizations, which
have incited and promoted
color revolution in other coun-
tries and regions, have had an
impact on some media outlets,
student unions, political parties
and labor unions by funding,
training, advising them or orga-
nizing social movements.
Western media outlets have
been constantly whipping up
public sentiment in favor of
anti-government forces, piling
pressure on the Chinese central
government, the Hong Kong
SAR government and the Hong
Kong police in the international
community.
Some US and Western poli-
ticians support opposition forc-
es in Hong Kong and threat-
ened Beijing with “profound
consequences” including sanc-
tions if the Chinese central gov-
ernment mobilizes the Hong
Kong Garrison of the Chinese
People’s Liberation Army or the
People’s Armed Police to inter-
vene directly.
In the backdrop of China-
US rivalry, Washington intends
to contain Beijing’s rise. Real-
izing Hong Kong cannot play
the role of promoting China’s
“peaceful evolution,” the UShopes to mess up Hong Kong,
creating trouble for Beijing and
eroding the country’s national
power.
What some US politicians
have recently said shows the
US intends to link the Hong
Kong affair with the trade talks
between the two giants. US
Vice President Mike Pence said
on August 19 that “it would be
much harder for us to make a
[trade] deal if something violent
happens in Hong Kong.” Mike
Pompeo, US Secretary of State,
said on August 20 that Beijing
and Washington may not reach
a deal if the Chinese central
government violently cracks
down on the mass protests in
Hong Kong.
However, China-US trade
negotiations will have to take
diverse interests into account,
ranging from finance to tech-
nology. Amid the current Chi-
na-US strategic competition,
the Hong Kong problem is a
US bargaining chip to negoti-
ate with China, but not a deci-
sive one.Although the Chinese cen-
tral government hopes the
chaos in Hong Kong can end
as soon as possible, it will not
make concessions in trade talks
with the US with regard to the
Hong Kong affair.
Many are concerned wheth-
er or when the Chinese cen-
tral government will step in to
resolve the turmoil in Hong
Kong.
The Chinese central govern-
ment has made it clear that it
firmly supports the Hong Kong
SAR government in governing
the city according to law, the
Hong Kong police in strictly en-
forcing the law and the Hong
Kong SAR judiciary in pun-
ishing violent criminals. It has
constantly warned the US and
other Western countries not to
meddle with the Hong Kong af-
fairs.
The patriotic forces in
Hong Kong, standing with the
SAR government, are fight-
ing against Hong Kong anti-
government forces and their
Western supporters. Thoughthe chaos may not end very
soon, the probability of violence
waning is high, but for the odd
flare-up at critical moments.
The escalation of violence
over the past few months has
upset many ordinary Hong-
kongers and the public will
voice louder opposition to vio-
lence. At the same time, police
would step up measures to
curb violence. So far, a number
of rioters have been arrested.
Therefore, it’s likely that vio-
lence would gradually reduce.
But protests may continue for
a while because protesters have
not obtained what they want –
such as the right to universal
suffrage.The article was compiled by
Global Times reporter Lu Yuanzhi
based on an interview with Lau
Siu-Kai, Emeritus Professor
of Sociology at the Chinese
University of Hong Kong and
Vice-President of the Chinese
Association of Hong Kong
& Macao Studies. opinion@
globaltimes.com.cnIllustration: Liu Rui/GT