By Joel
Gehrke, Foreign Affairs Reporter |
February 15, 2023 06:35 PM
China and Mexico have
stonewalled “information-sharing” and other “basic" steps to counteract
the fentanyl crisis in the United States, according to federal officials.
“There are basic steps [China] could take, that they're not
taking right now, that could help a lot,” State Department Assistant
Secretary Todd Robinson, who leads the counternarcotics bureau, told a Senate
committee on Wednesday
Robinson and other federal officials appeared before the
panel as lawmakers seek to address “a crisis we cannot solve just within our
borders,” as Senate
Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Menendez (D-NJ)
put it at the outset of the hearing. Yet their testimony pointed to a failure
of international cooperation that has allowed cartels to import the precursor
materials from China into Mexico, where they synthesize one of the deadliest
drugs in the world for distribution in the United States — often to customers
who believe they are purchasing more familiar, less lethal prescription drugs.
“The question I get asked when I'm out in the public more
than any other is, why would these cartels kill their customers?” Administrator
Anne Milgram, who leads the Drug Enforcement Agency, told lawmakers. "And
the answer today is that fentanyl is so addictive that the cartels are using it
to drive addiction. And, for them, if a user dies, it is the cost of doing
business.”
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China agreed to clamp down on fentanyl exports in 2019, but
Beijing “has repeatedly declined diplomatic and congressional requests to stop”
supplies of the precursor chemicals that the cartels import into Mexico,
according to Milgram. And Beijing suspended a counternarcotics initiative with
the U.S. in August after then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) visited Taiwan, an island
democracy Chinese Communist officials want to control.
“I doubt Xi Jinping cares that his chemical and
pharmaceutical industries are supplying the Mexican cartels that are flooding
the United States with fentanyl,” Menendez said. “But let’s be clear — his
government’s negligence is helping unleash a deadly wave of fentanyl-related
deaths, not only here in the United States, but also in Canada, in Mexico, as
well as in countries in East and Southeast Asia that are struggling with their
own crisis of synthetic opioids from China.”
Chinese officials have evinced little interest in preventing
drug cartels from acquiring the chemicals they need to produce fentanyl,
according to the State Department witness. “They could monitor and make more
transparent the labeling of chemicals leaving the country,” Robinson said.
“And, they could follow the trail and make sure that the companies that are
exporting these chemicals know who the chemicals are going to, particularly in
Mexico, where we know the drug is being synthesized. They're not doing that
now. They're not talking to us really about it, but they should.”
And Mexico, for its part, similarly has proven uncooperative
with DEA officials in terms of information-sharing, law enforcement, and the
extradition of “232 drug-related defendants” who will face charges in the U.S.
if Mexican officials transfer them into American custody, according to Milgram.
“We are not getting information on fentanyl seizures, we are
not getting information on seizures of precursor chemicals, and that kind of
information ... is vital for both countries — both for Mexico and for the
United States,” she said. “We are very concerned about the clandestine labs
across Mexico. And we have offered, and continue to offer and stand ready to
work in partnership with Mexican authorities, to dismantle and take down those
clandestine labs throughout Mexico jointly and to be of any service that we
can.”
That overview of breakdowns drew a sharp condemnation from
the committee. “I understand that our witnesses have to be diplomatic in the
way that they talk about Mexico, but let's be honest: At best, Mexico is not
taking this crisis seriously enough,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) responded. “And
at worst, the Mexican government, or at least significant parts of it, are
either looking the other way or complicit with cartels. That's just the truth.”
While many Republican questions centered on the relationship
between border security and drug trafficking, Milgram emphasized that most of the
fentanyl passes through legal “ports of entry” despite federal efforts.
“The vast majority of fentanyl is coming in the ports of
entry — two, particularly, in California, and two in Arizona,” she said.
The hearing showcased bipartisan frustration with both China
and Mexico. “If China is complicit in supplying fentanyl that comes to the
United States, then we need to consider sanctions,” said Sen. James Risch
(R-ID), the top Republican on the committee.
Menendez sent a similar signal. “We need to create an
international coalition that pressures China,” he said. “And then we have our
next-door neighbor [in Mexico]. ... If the good overtures to try to get them to
act [are] not working, then there has to be other considerations. We work with
our Mexican friends with kid gloves on this issue, and I just [think] it’s
fundamentally wrong. I don’t know how many more lives have to be lost for
Mexico to get engaged.”
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/defense-national-security/china-mexico-refuse-cooperate-us-fentanyl-suppliers-federal-officials
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