The Fentanyl War

200 years ago, the West sent drugs into China and plunged the country into chaos. The population became addicted to drugs and lost the will to fight and to work. Control of the people by the West was easy. China lost 2 opium wars, sank into a state of decline and was subsequently known as the ‘Sick Man Of Asia’ (東亞病夫). Subsequently in 1900, the Eight-Nation Alliance invaded China and plundered much of their resources, which till today many were not recovered. Hong Kong and Macau were lost, a humiliation they remembered till today. Of the Alliance was a member called the US.

In view of Japan’s dumping of radioactive wastewater into the Pacific Ocean, I feel that there is a need to write about this in deeper detail, at a level not covered by the news articles. However to do this, a background to gain a better understanding is required. Hence today’s article can be considered the precursor to the next article on Japan’s actions.

Fast forward to the modern day, China today has one of the toughest stance on drugs in the world. Their police and their spies went through great lengths and sacrifices to hunt down drug dealers and syndicates. They could tolerate corruption, they could tolerate incompetence, but they could not tolerate drugs. Drug dealers are executed without mercy, and over the years the drug syndicates have gotten fewer and fewer. In fact, even in their television crime dramas, the bad guys are often portrayed and quoted as saying: You can do anything but drugs. The bad guys will murder, bribe, rape, pimp, launder money, blackmail and everything under the sun but also know that drugs is a line they can never cross. A sublime message to the masses that drugs is a taboo they can never touch.

On the other hand, the West had become the opposite. The powers which sent drugs into China 200 years ago now face drug issues in their country. As mentioned earlier, the US had even legalised drugs and set up drug centres. And China is fuelling the drug issues in the US. Warfare is fought on many levels, both out in the open and deep in the dark, directly between countries and indirectly with smaller nations as representatives. Sweet revenge for the once-victim to exact the same punishment on the aggressor.

Fentanyl, an opioid 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine, is a synthetic drug that is haunting the streets of the US right now. Also known as the zombie drugs, it has destroyed the lives of many people far more than what heroin could do. With heroin, people can still function normally to a certain extent. With fentanyl, people simply cannot function anymore. But where did all these fentanyl come from? From Mexico, where the Chinese sold precursor chemicals for the synthesis of fentanyl. Do note that when it comes to the Chinese, they said that they were selling proper chemicals for the production of medicine. Fentanyl derivatives are used in medical or veterinary medicine and include alfentanil, carfentanil, remifentanil, and sufentanil. Just like how a knife can be used for cooking or murder, China claims they are selling the chemicals for good and legitimate purposes. It is simply unfortunate that Mexico took the chemicals to make fentanyl, but the US should tighten their border controls and law enforcement if they want to clamp down on drugs instead of blaming on China. China is happy to supply the fuel, and Mexico is happy to see the land of the free burn down.

Note that during the Trump administration, Trump had struck a deal with Xi Jinping on the control of fentanyl chemicals. But this has stopped during the Biden administration. As a side note, Trump is no saint but under his administration, the world was at peace. Soon after Biden took over, chaos erupted everywhere. China’s stand on fentanyl was very simple – you burn my backyard, I burn yours. The US has repeatedly provoked China’s relationship with its neighbours Japan and South Korea, and made an issue with Taiwan. China responded by sending drugs to the US through Mexico. The drug issue was especially heavy-handed because it deals damage directly to the lives of the youths and the people.

Population as we know it, is essential because firstly it represents a labour force and consequently your production capacity, secondly it represents the size of your market and by extension your bargaining power (look at how China keeps playing its market size card), and lastly your military might. These are the main reasons why a sufficiently big and healthy population is important. China knows the pain of a drug-addicted nation very well, and using the US’ lenient stance towards drugs, China dealt them a hand which they find it hard to defend.

And that is one of the many reasons why Japan released the radioactive nuclear wastewater into the sea. You use Mexico to kill my population, I will use Japan to lay waste to your people too.