US To Help Halt Chinese Drug Trafficking In Pacific Nations

The United States has agreed to help combat illicit drug trafficking in the Pacific Islands – a key node for drug trade between China and the United States.

U.S. National Security Council Coordinator for Indo-Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell speaks during a news conference at the South Korean Presidential Office in Seoul on July 18, 2023. Kim Hong-ji/ Pool/AFP via Getty Images

According to a Thursday announcement by United States, Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell – speaking in Vanuatu at the formal launch of the U.S. embassy in Port Vila, which opened last month, said that criminals have begun to use the Pacific Islands as transit points.

“We are concerned some of the networks that have grown in China and South East Asia are beginning to use the Pacific for transshipment both to Latin America and the United States,” he said. “Many of our partners in the Pacific want to work with us to try to get a handle on that.”

The announcement comes amid an opioid crisis that has caused tens of thousands of overdose deaths annually, with the US criticizing Chinese firms for their role in the global fentanyl supply chain. Meanwhile, island nations such as Fiji and Tonga have seen a rise in meth seizures this year.

As the Epoch Times notes further, the deputy secretary said an announcement will be made next week on law enforcement regarding drugs in the Pacific.

He also said the United States could help with efforts in areas such as drug interdiction, treatment, and prevention.

Campbell visited Vanuatu a day after his meeting with leaders at the Pacific Islands Forum in Tonga.

Campbell said after meeting with Prime Minister Jeremiah Manele, who was elected in May, that the Solomon Islands, which struck a security pact with China under its previous leader, wants to re-engage with the United States.

Campbell also met China’s Pacific envoy Qian Bo in Tonga on Wednesday and said they discussed finding areas of cooperation in the Pacific, such as a climate change project, which he said regional leaders had welcomed.

He said the United States was working to offer financing for small businesses to revive tourism, hospital infrastructure, and telecoms links in Vanuatu and ensure Pacific Island countries a choice of partners.

China is Vanuatu’s largest external creditor after a decade of infrastructure construction by its companies.

On Wednesday, the Pacific Island Forum backed an Australian-funded $271-million plan to improve police training in the region and create a mobile policing unit.

Australia previously said it was concerned about China’s growing police presence in the region, and boosting the capability of Pacific police will reduce the need for Chinese police.

Illicit Drug Trafficking

Campbell’s announcement came as U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan raised similar issues, including drug trafficking to the United States, over 14 hours of meetings with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing.

“More specifically, we’re going to look for further progress on counternarcotics and reducing the flow of illicit synthetic drugs into the United States,” Sullivan told reporters on Thursday.

China has been one of the primary sources of fentanyl and fentanyl-related drugs—the leading cause of overdose deaths in the United States.

In May 2019, Beijing added fentanyl-related substances to its list of control substances, a move applauded by former President Donald Trump, who had repeatedly called on Xi to stem the flow of the drugs. However, Trump said three months later that the Chinese leader had failed to keep his promise.

Beijing also halted talks with Washington on several issues, including counternarcotics, in August 2022 after then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan.

While talks resumed in January this year, the halt raised concerns that the Chinese regime will always be willing to use the issue as leverage when tensions increase in the Taiwan Strait.

In April this year, the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) published a report saying evidence showed that the regime was directly subsidizing the manufacturing and export of illicit fentanyl materials and other synthetic narcotics, many of which have no known legal use worldwide, through tax rebates.

The report also said the regime gave monetary grants and awards to companies openly trafficking illicit fentanyl materials and other synthetic narcotics, that it holds ownership interest in several Chinese companies tied to drug trafficking, and it prevented U.S. law enforcement from investigating manufacturers by tipping them off in advance.

Reuters contributed to this report.