US Fentanyl Crisis Is a ‘CCP-Run Operation,’ Says Peter Schweizer

‘The drug cartels are certainly involved, but they’re the junior partner,’ he says, adding that the CCP is present at ‘every link of the chain.’Three months after the U.S. Treasury sanctioned a Chinese mafia leader for fentanyl trafficking, he received an award in Beijing.In March 2021, the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) Overseas United Working Committee recognized Wan Kuok Koi, also known as “Broken Tooth,” as a “patriotic businessman” and the “chief representative” of all international Hongmen associations. Hongmen is synonymous with triads, or Chinese transnational organized crime syndicates, to many Chinese.The awarding entity is a CCP United Front organization and a platform under the China Association for Science and Technology. It also pushes China’s flagship infrastructure program, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), worldwide. According to the Treasury notice, Mr. Wan has established a security company protecting BRI investments in Southeast Asia.In a recent interview with EpochTV’s American Thought Leaders (ATL), investigative writer Peter Schweizer cited Mr. Wan’s case as an example of the CCP’s take on America’s fentanyl crisis. “The notion that ‘oh, China’s trying very hard, but they can’t fix this’ is an absolute joke in my mind,” he said.In addition, the author of the new book “Blood Money: Why the Powerful Turn a Blind Eye While China Kills Americans” told ATL that the U.S. fentanyl crisis is a “CCP-run operation.”“The drug cartels are certainly involved, but they’re the junior partner,” Mr. Schweizer said, adding that the CCP is present at “every link of the chain.”Related StoryThe Chinese production of fentanyl precursors is widely known. However, Mr. Schweizer’s research also shows that China provides pill-pressing machines at cost for fentanyl-laced fake pill production, distributes the synthetic opioid in the United States, facilitates the Mexican drug cartels’ financial transactions, and provides secure communication systems to cartels so they can bypass detection by U.S. law enforcement.Currently, fentanyl overdose is the leading cause of death in Americans 18 to 45. The deadly drug was responsible for about 75,000 deaths, or 200 per day, in 2022. Compared to 3,105 deaths in 2013, the death toll increased by 23-fold.Facing this crisis, which has been growing exponentially, the U.S. government has yet to come up with an effective solution. In Mr. Schweizer’s view, U.S. leaders’ inaction is a significant factor.He documented in his book how senior U.S. leaders, albeit initially voicing concerns about China’s involvement in fentanyl trafficking, remained largely silent on the issue.One of them is President Joe Biden.At a Senate hearing in 1992, the then-chair of the Judiciary Committee warned that “China is poised to become the lynchpin of the heroin trade.”He also criticized the then-Bush administration’s lack of action on confronting China: “The truth is that the cooperation between the United States and China in fighting drugs is limited, at best, and as is its course, the administration is turning a blind eye to China’s renegade behavior.”Yet, the Biden administration has been taking a similar approach: touting its counternarcotics cooperation with China, which relies on voluntary domestic control measures. CCP leader Xi Jinping didn’t keep similar past promises he made to former presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump.Amb. Robert Lighthizer (L); Peter Schweizer (C), president of the Government Accountability Institute; and Michael Pillsbury, senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation (R), at the Heritage Foundation's Leadership Summit in National Harbor, Md., on April 20, 2023. (Terri Wu/The Epoch Times)Different than heroin or cocaine, fentanyl takes the lives of people who take the drug unknowingly. A New York University study last year showed that a majority of the people who took fentanyl didn’t intend to do so.Therefore, Mr. Schweizer thinks calling the fentanyl crisis a drug problem is missing the mark.To him, it’s “extremely convenient” for the Biden administration to treat fentanyl as a “drug addiction problem, rather than what it is—poisoning.”“It absolves you of trying to confront the CCP on this because you’re essentially saying this is a human nature problem in the United States.”In Mr. Schweizer’s view, the first family’s financial ties to China prohibited them from confronting the communists to reign in the Chinese fentanyl actors, which could be effective “overnight” if CCP leader Xi Jinping wanted to.The Epoch Times has contacted the White House for comment.Mr. Schweizer’s findings don’t stop at the fentanyl crisis, which he sees as a part of CCP’s broader approach of “disintegration warfare,” aiming at bringing the United States down by attacking its “soft underbelly” regarding Americans’ politics, economics, and psychology.In the ATL interview, he also talked about the CCP’s links to activities that sow social discord by inflaming racial and gender divisions in Ame

US Fentanyl Crisis Is a ‘CCP-Run Operation,’ Says Peter Schweizer

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‘The drug cartels are certainly involved, but they’re the junior partner,’ he says, adding that the CCP is present at ‘every link of the chain.’

Three months after the U.S. Treasury sanctioned a Chinese mafia leader for fentanyl trafficking, he received an award in Beijing.

In March 2021, the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) Overseas United Working Committee recognized Wan Kuok Koi, also known as “Broken Tooth,” as a “patriotic businessman” and the “chief representative” of all international Hongmen associations. Hongmen is synonymous with triads, or Chinese transnational organized crime syndicates, to many Chinese.

The awarding entity is a CCP United Front organization and a platform under the China Association for Science and Technology. It also pushes China’s flagship infrastructure program, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), worldwide. According to the Treasury notice, Mr. Wan has established a security company protecting BRI investments in Southeast Asia.

In a recent interview with EpochTV’s American Thought Leaders (ATL), investigative writer Peter Schweizer cited Mr. Wan’s case as an example of the CCP’s take on America’s fentanyl crisis. “The notion that ‘oh, China’s trying very hard, but they can’t fix this’ is an absolute joke in my mind,” he said.

In addition, the author of the new book “Blood Money: Why the Powerful Turn a Blind Eye While China Kills Americans” told ATL that the U.S. fentanyl crisis is a “CCP-run operation.”

“The drug cartels are certainly involved, but they’re the junior partner,” Mr. Schweizer said, adding that the CCP is present at “every link of the chain.”

The Chinese production of fentanyl precursors is widely known. However, Mr. Schweizer’s research also shows that China provides pill-pressing machines at cost for fentanyl-laced fake pill production, distributes the synthetic opioid in the United States, facilitates the Mexican drug cartels’ financial transactions, and provides secure communication systems to cartels so they can bypass detection by U.S. law enforcement.

Currently, fentanyl overdose is the leading cause of death in Americans 18 to 45. The deadly drug was responsible for about 75,000 deaths, or 200 per day, in 2022. Compared to 3,105 deaths in 2013, the death toll increased by 23-fold.

Facing this crisis, which has been growing exponentially, the U.S. government has yet to come up with an effective solution. In Mr. Schweizer’s view, U.S. leaders’ inaction is a significant factor.

He documented in his book how senior U.S. leaders, albeit initially voicing concerns about China’s involvement in fentanyl trafficking, remained largely silent on the issue.

One of them is President Joe Biden.

At a Senate hearing in 1992, the then-chair of the Judiciary Committee warned that “China is poised to become the lynchpin of the heroin trade.”

He also criticized the then-Bush administration’s lack of action on confronting China: “The truth is that the cooperation between the United States and China in fighting drugs is limited, at best, and as is its course, the administration is turning a blind eye to China’s renegade behavior.”

Yet, the Biden administration has been taking a similar approach: touting its counternarcotics cooperation with China, which relies on voluntary domestic control measures. CCP leader Xi Jinping didn’t keep similar past promises he made to former presidents Barack Obama and Donald Trump.
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Amb. Robert Lighthizer (L); Peter Schweizer (C), president of the Government Accountability Institute; and Michael Pillsbury, senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation (R), at the Heritage Foundation's Leadership Summit in National Harbor, Md., on April 20, 2023. (Terri Wu/The Epoch Times)
Amb. Robert Lighthizer (L); Peter Schweizer (C), president of the Government Accountability Institute; and Michael Pillsbury, senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation (R), at the Heritage Foundation's Leadership Summit in National Harbor, Md., on April 20, 2023. (Terri Wu/The Epoch Times)

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Different than heroin or cocaine, fentanyl takes the lives of people who take the drug unknowingly. A New York University study last year showed that a majority of the people who took fentanyl didn’t intend to do so.

Therefore, Mr. Schweizer thinks calling the fentanyl crisis a drug problem is missing the mark.

To him, it’s “extremely convenient” for the Biden administration to treat fentanyl as a “drug addiction problem, rather than what it is—poisoning.”

“It absolves you of trying to confront the CCP on this because you’re essentially saying this is a human nature problem in the United States.”

In Mr. Schweizer’s view, the first family’s financial ties to China prohibited them from confronting the communists to reign in the Chinese fentanyl actors, which could be effective “overnight” if CCP leader Xi Jinping wanted to.

The Epoch Times has contacted the White House for comment.

Mr. Schweizer’s findings don’t stop at the fentanyl crisis, which he sees as a part of CCP’s broader approach of “disintegration warfare,” aiming at bringing the United States down by attacking its “soft underbelly” regarding Americans’ politics, economics, and psychology.

In the ATL interview, he also talked about the CCP’s links to activities that sow social discord by inflaming racial and gender divisions in American society and “dumbing down the West” with TikTok.

The interview premieres on April 18.

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