China Supplies 99.9 Percent of U.S. Stimulants

China Supplies 99.9 Percent of U.S. Stimulants
China's 2008 Olympic Games preparation is tarnished by DEA reports of Chinese stimulant exports to the United States. (TEH ENG KOON AFP Getty Images)
9/28/2007
Updated:
9/28/2007

The Voice of America (VOA) reported on September 24 that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) confirmed that 99.9% of stimulants imported into the United States are from China.

There are 35 Chinese factories providing raw materials for underground labs in the United States to produce illegal stimulants that are banned for sports competitors.

Experts believe that the information in the report is especially sensitive as China is going to host the 2008 Olympics, and this creates another challenge for them. Observers are waiting to see whether the Chinese Communist authorities will take action, and even if they do, will they be able to enforce the law?

Tracing Illegal Stimulants to China

The VOA report said that the international investigation into the global production of illegal stimulants had the aid and co-operation of 9 countries, and has been conducted over the last 18 months. The U.S. DEA says the last raid, an unprecedented large one, in the past 4 days put an end to the anti-drug raids.

It is reported that the United States started raiding underground labs for illegally producing stimulants in Mexico. At that time, 80 percent of stimulants in the United States came from Mexico, but Chinese factories provided the raw materials to them. After the Mexican labs were shut down, China shipped the raw materials directly to underground labs in the United States.

Former Prosecutor of Anhui Procuratorate, Mr. Shen Liangqing, said that the report has a direct bearing on the Olympics. It is an extension of the international community’s monitoring of China’s production of various foods containing poisonous substances.. It is also an aspect that the international community’s supervision of the host of the 2008 Olympics must take into account.

A well-known political commentator, Mr. Wu Fan, said that it is again a challenge for China to host the 2008 Olympics after the United States announced such a damaging report. This will cause the international community to apply pressure on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). He indicated that it is quite a satire on the CCP that a nation, which is going to host the 2008 Olympics, is reported to have a large illegal stimulants manufacturing base.

Mr. Wu said that the CCP authorities not only ignore the production of drugs in China, but they probably collude with the drug factories, since in China both businessmen and officials are driven by benefits.

Wu further stated, “If there are problems with manufacturing and providing stimulants, China’s hopes of hosting the 2008 Olympics will be in vain. Therefore, under the supervision of the international societies, the CCP might take action to deal with the drug manufacturing and view it as a political task. Nevertheless, the relationships between different interest groups are complex. I doubt that the CCP authorities will take specific actions or publicize related information. We will have to wait and see.”

Tolerating Its Own Nature

Mr. Shen said that even if the CCP authorities take action, it’s probably hard to remove or ban production, because the fundamental problem is the CCP system, which is rotten and tainted from the core, so it cannot solve its own corruption.

“The dictatorship of the CCP has granted its leadership level cadre many privileges and thus creates serious problems of corruption, which directly influences the government’s capabilities of administration, law-enforcement, and even legislation. Many officials, including the directors of the Public Security Bureau, become the heads of gangsters. Therefore, even though the government wants to improve, it is impotent.” Mr. Shen said.

Mr. Shen also indicated the reasons why various kinds of credit crises exist throughout Chinese society. “The government is not only irresponsible, but is itself a corrupt government. It does nothing for justice, even though there are laws. It enforces the law selectively. That is, it only enforces the law when it benefits the government and its officials. There is no press freedom, no independent judiciary, and no political restraint, which has created a lot of problems. Overall, the political system is itself the problem.”