Fentanyl ploy will backfire
In a recent report, the US Congress pointed out that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been subsidizing the production of fentanyl and other synthetic drugs through measures such as tax incentives. The CCP government’s practice contributes to the international trade in fentanyl and other synthetic drugs, it said.
Although the CCP’s security agencies reached an agreement with the US to jointly combat the trade of the drug, they notified the targets of the investigation in advance so they could avoid repercussions. As a result, the smuggling and sales of fentanyl have become rampant.
The report said that despite the drug being banned in China, the CCP has blocked information about it and failed to strictly scrutinize exports of it.
Fentanyl functions as a synthetic opiate painkiller and is commonly used to deal with severe pain. Compared with heroin, fentanyl is more likely to be fatal, because it is 50 times more potent.
The flood of the drug into the US is having serious effects.
Ninety-seven percent of fentanyl production is in China, which is why Washington asked Beijing to help stop the continuous production.
However, China only cooperates with the US on the surface, while supporting manufacturers and factories to produce large quantities of the drug behind the scenes.
China seems to believe that exports of fentanyl can make the people of the US and other countries addicted to it. Then it would be able to take control of the world in the long run.
However, China’s approach is unwise.
Although it has blocked Chinese in its territory from learning about fentanyl, it fails to consider that this approach would harm others without benefiting itself.
With the development of the Internet, people can learn about the drug by breaching the Great Firewall of China.
Moreover, overseas Chinese are in contact with people at home at all times.
Once the drug starts to spread in China, its own people would be in danger as well.
Such an approach that is harmful to others and to itself is undesirable indeed.
Lin Hui
Taipei
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