Trump’s Diplomacy Yields Results in War on Chinese Fentanyl

Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Kash Patel (L) speaks during the daily press briefing about a recent meeting he attended in Beijing, China regarding fentanyl production and distribution.

President Donald Trump’s tough stance on China has yielded positive results for U.S. efforts to keep fentanyl off American streets by targeting precursor chemicals at their source in China.

While most fentanyl comes into the United States from Mexico and other Central and South American nations, the “precursors,” or substances used to produce fentanyl, often originate in China. Most drug precursors slip easily through the cracks, since they are not officially illegal. Even “limited” chemicals are readily available via the pharmaceutical sector, fueling a booming trade that remains stubbornly difficult to stop.

Congress has long recognized the significant and in many cases deliberate role that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) plays in propping up the illicit trade in precursor chemicals. Chinese companies export these products under the guise of legitimate chemical or pharmacological use knowing full well that they will be used to produce fentanyl.

During a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea earlier this month, Trump made this crisis a top priority. In exchange for easing sanctions on Beijing, Trump extracted a pledge from the Chinese government to do more to halt the flood of fentanyl precursors to the Americas.

The CCP took the first steps toward making good on that promise earlier this week when it announced new export restrictions on 13 “drug-making” chemicals bound for the United States, Canada, and Mexico. The move is a major concession from Beijing and a de facto admission that Xi’s government had been knowingly allowing the illicit trade in fentanyl precursors to continue unabated.

For years, narcotics investigators have focused on seizing illegal drugs but have been unable to stop precursor chemicals. While law enforcement can arrest dealers and seize product, they are powerless to go after the source of the fentanyl trade in China. Trump has now forced the CCP’s hand on that front.

Former Chinese Lt. Col. Quan Changpu, who defected to the West in the 1990s, said the CCP’s crackdown appears legitimate for now. “It looks like they are finally starting to treat it seriously,” he said. Quan was notably involved in war planning against the United States. As Quan also noted, the strategy of attempting to destabilize the United States through the illicit drug trade goes all the way back to Mao’s rule.

Another CCP defector who requested to be identified only as Da Yin told me that Mao encouraged Chinese security agencies to help funnel drugs to the West. “It was a long-term goal aimed at destroying the capitalist world,” he said. “The CCP maintained narcotics operations in Thailand, Laos, and China, and then expanded near the Afghan and Russian borders.”

Da Yin added that, over the years, drug production and trafficking became a crucial source of funding for the CCP, with CCP-controlled entities producing “enough drugs and precursors to kill the world’s population many times over.” The Party understood that many drugs would be intercepted by law enforcement, but the massive flood of deadly substances meant some would get through.

Trump took a hardline stance on the CCP’s involvement in the fentanyl trade while on the campaign trail last year, pledging tough action. Making good on that promise, Trump signed an executive order in February “imposing duties to address the synthetic opioid supply chain in the People’s Republic of China.” That order specifically stated that “the flow of contraband drugs like fentanyl to the United States through illicit distribution networks has created a national emergency” and that China plays a “central role” in the trade of fentanyl and other synthetic opioids.

At the time, critics lambasted the order as unlikely to do anything to stop the flow of fentanyl precursors. Now, Trump’s long-term strategy appears to be coming to fruition.

In yet another victory for the Trump administration, Chinese drug trafficker Zhi Dong Zhang, alias “Brother Wang,” was captured in Cuba and extradited to the United States late last month. U.S. authorities say he has laundered hundreds of millions of dollars as part of a global drug distribution network. “Brother Wang can be seen as a key link between Mexican cartels and Chinese chemical companies in sourcing the precursor chemicals for fentanyl,” former DEA agent Mike Vigil told the BBC.

Zhi was arrested in Mexico City last October before escaping house arrest and fleeing to Cuba. He then boarded a commercial flight to Russia – which has no extradition treaty with the United States – but was turned away by Russian immigration authorities. When he arrived back in Havana, Cuban security services arrested him.

Fentanyl trafficking remains an urgent threat for the United States to address – and one that Trump is taking seriously, as his strikes on cartel drug boats show. But with Trump back in office, China has finally been forced to admit its role in the epidemic, and real progress may well be at hand.

Ben Solis is the pen name of an international affairs journalist, historian, and researcher.