Drug Trafficking in China

Drug Trafficking in China
Student’s Name
University
Course Name and Number
Lecturer’s Name
Due Date
Drug Trafficking in China
Drug trafficking is not a new phenomenon in China. It has been part of Chinese history even before the Boxer Rebellion and the British Opium War in the mid-1800s (Clarke, 2008). History depicts that China's sheer size and geography have conventionally made it vulnerable to drug trafficking. Today, a combination of factors such as increased urbanization, China’s extended trade and commercial interests with Southern Asia, weakened travel restrictions within the country, and a gradual development of a more consumer-oriented society has contributed to the country being a victim of trafficking (Clarke, 2008). The economic development that brought wealth and prosperity to Chinese nationals also made China one of the narcotic centers (Swanström & Yin, 2006). This development established a market for the global drug trade. Studies show that between 2000 and 2005, China’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita increased from approximately 3,980 USD to roughly 6,292 USD (Swanström & Yin, 2006). Such an increase in purchasing power has enabled the average citizen to acquire more drugs. Because of these factors, China has become a major narcotic transit point for Asia, Europe, North America, Africa, Russia, and Latin America (Clarke, 2008). The increased drug trafficking has resulted in severe consequences for China. This research discusses drug trafficking in China, which has harmed society. Drug trafficking has influenced criminal activities in China and has created a culture of drug reliance that has affected public health.
Nature, Trends, and Definition
Drug trafficking is a serious criminal offense in China that may attract harsher punishment. In China, Capital punishment is the legal penalty for an individual convicted of drug trafficking. Article 347 of the Chinese Criminal Code states that regardless of the quantity of drugs a person smuggles, produces, or traffics, they shall be prosecuted (Tian, 2016). The most popular drugs in China are heroin and meth. According to Chin & Zhang (2007), the maximum sentence for the passion of more than 50 grams of heroin or meth is death. The nature of punishment given to drug traffickers in China shows how serious this offense is.
Many drug traffickers have been indicted and sentenced to death for committing this crime. For instance, in 1994, the Yunnan police caught Yang Maoxian, a notorious drug lord who had systematically controlled drug trafficking in China, and sentenced him to death (Chin & Zhang, 2007). Years later, the Chinese authorities arrested and executed Lee Guoting, a popular heroin Kingpin (Chin & Zhang, 2007). The capture and execution of Sai Naw Kham, a notorious drug lord from Myanmar, was a big win for anti-narcotics (Zhao, 2022). One of the most recent cases is that of Robert Lloyd Schellenberg, a Canadian drug smuggler who was initially sentenced to 15 years in prison but later changed to the death penalty. These cases are a few drug drug-trafficking cases that show the seriousness of China in curbing this problem.
In the past, China’s law enforcement officials raised concerns over increased illegal drug trafficking from the Golden Triangle region into China. Research shows that drug crime in China rose until around 2015 when strict crackdown measures became effective (NNCC, 2021). According to United Nations Office on Drug and Crime (UNODC) report, major drug crime cases in China have become more common (Chin & Zhang, 2007). The types of drugs being smuggled and trafficked are more diverse because China has become a consumer-oriented society (Zhang & Chin, 2015). Drug crimes in China have also started exhibiting a conspicuous trend of globalization.
China's primary source of foreign-made drugs is the Golden Triangle (Myanmar, Laos, and Thailand) (Yong-an, 2012). This area, particularly Myanmar, is regarded as one of the world's leading opium-cultivation and heroin-producing areas (Yong-an, 2012). Estimates show that Myanmar produced over 50% of the world's raw opium and refined more than 75% of the world’s heroin in the late 1990s (Yong-an, 2012). This region enjoyed an infamous reputation for the global heroin trade for most of the 1990s (Yong-an, 2012). Recently, Myanmar has also become the primary source of amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) in Asia, with hundreds of millions of annual production of methamphetamine tablets (Yong-an, 2012). The increased production of ATS in this region is attributed to the diversification of heroin users. This is the case in Myanmar, where affordable drug forms are produced (Yong-an, 2012).
Before the mid-1980s, heroin manufactured in the Golden triangle was mostly trafficked into Hong Kong via Thailand on fishing trawlers before being smuggled into the United States, Australia, and Europe (Chin & Zhang, 2007). Hong Kong was and still is the financial and organizational center for the region's heroin trade. However, the economic development that resulted in a rapid business expansion and population migration within China in the late 1970s facilitated cross-border drug trade along the Myanmar-China border (Chin & Zhang, 2007). In 1986, authorities seized around 22kg of heroin in Yunnan Province (Chin & Zhang, 2007).
The drug case, engineered by drug traffickers from Hong Kong and Thailand, was the first major case since China came under Communist control in 1949 (Chin & Zhang, 2007). As noted earlier, in 1994, the Yunnan police caught Yang Maoxian, a notorious drug lord who had systematically controlled drug trafficking in China, and sentenced him to death (Chin & Zhang, 2007). Years later, the Chinese authorities arrested and executed Lee Quoting, a popular heroin Kingpin (Chin & Zhang, 2007). Despite these arrests and executions, the Chinese route remained popular for drug traffickers. For instance, in 1996, Chinese officials confiscated nearly 221kg of heroin in Guangzhou (Chin & Zhang, 2007). These drugs were traced to the Golden Triangle. Between 1991 and 1997, law enforcement agencies across China arrested over 568,000 for drug trafficking and impounded more than 30 tons of heroin and 14.4 tons of heroin (Chin & Zhang, 2007).
Data from China’s Narcotics Control Commission (NNCC) shows that in 2009, authorities in Yunnan Province, China apprehended around 3.2 tons of methamphetamine, accounting for almost 50% of the overall seized ice throughout China (Yong-an, 2012). In 2013, almost 92.2% of heroin and 95.2% of methamphetamine impounded in China were traced to Myanmar (Zhang & Chin, 2015). The Myanmar-Yunnan- Guangdong route is a traditional and preferred drug trafficking route (Yong-an, 2012). Direct consumption of some of the drugs smuggled into Southern China occurs. Traffickers may smuggle these drugs to interior provinces and the global heroin market through Shenzhen, Guangzhou, and Zhuhai (Chin & Zhang, 2007). Recently, the China-Vietnam border has become a hotspot for international drug trafficking due to increased law enforcement efforts at the China-Myanmar border (Yong-an, 2012).
Despite the increasing trend of drug trafficking up to 2015, the latest reports indicate that the Chinese government has significantly advanced in the fight against illicit drugs. According to Zhao (2022), China’s drug control situation continues to improve, considering the decline in the amount of trafficked drugs, drug-related crimes, and the scale of drug abuse in the last five years. China’s latest NNCC (2021) report shows that the government has taken strict crackdown measures to effectively curd drug-related crimes. Since most drugs are smuggled from overseas, China launched special campaigns to alter the entire chain of drug production and trafficking, sanction cross-border drug inflow and minimize drug supply to a great extent (NNCC, 2021). Over the past five years, the government uncovered more than 451,000 drug-related cases, with over 588,000 drug suspects arrested and nearly 305 tons seized (NNCC, 2021).
The year 2021 saw a decline in these cases, indicating an improvement. Around 54,000 drug-related cases were solved, down from 140,000 in 2017, with an average annual decline of nearly 16% (NNCC, 2021). About 27 tons of drugs were impounded, and 77,000 suspects were arrested in the national campaign, indicating a decline of 51.4% and 16%, respectively (NNCC, 2021). The report further stated that China had about 1.49 million registered illicit drug users by the end of 2021, representing a 17.5% decrease compared to previous years (NNCC, 2021). With the joint effort, the overall drug situation in China keeps improving. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the satisfaction rate of authorities' anti-drug efforts now stands at about 97% (Zhao, 2022). Therefore, according to the NNCC (2021) report, the disruption of the supply chain of drug retailing, the continuous advancement of operation border clearing, and the cracking down on drug delivery have resulted in a significant drop in China’s drug trafficking.
Despite the declining trend in drug trafficking courtesy of government-enacted drug control policies, research shows that drug trafficking is a difficult problem because the trade in illegal drugs is very lucrative (Zhang & Chin, 2015). According to Clarke (2008), drug trafficking: - the illicit trade involving the cultivation, production, distribution, and sale of prohibited substances, is a multibillion-dollar industry. It is the most lucrative business for criminals. Despite the ban on illicit drugs, their demand continues to rise, making it hard to destroy the business. Research indicates that drug trafficking is important for criminologists due to the nature of the crime and the criminal activities exhibited by individuals in the trafficking industry (Huang et al., 2012).
According to Chin & Zhang (2007), drug trafficking is often associated with other crimes, such as money laundering and corruption. This business is a major source of revenue for organized crime groups, many of whom are involved in serious crimes like terrorism, illegal firearms, immigration crimes, and modern slavery (Yong-an, 2012). A study by Huang et al. (2012) indicated that the number of people in China whose deaths have been caused by drug trafficking has increased. Drug-trafficking-related crime is often violent, with direct ties to the criminal possession and use of firearms (Zhao, 2022). These individuals also generate violent crimes due to competition for drug markets and customers, disputes and swindles amo...