China has stepped up production of fentanyl precursors to target us, experts say

According to an insider who has top political sources in Beijing, China’s ruling regime launched a secret project during President Donald Trump’s first term, weakening the United States by expanding production of fentanyl precursors and shipping it across borders to Mexico and Canada for production and distribution.

The plan, which the Chinese administration called Project Zero, aims to addictive Americans, according to Ewan Humbing, a dissident and legal scholar who lives in Australia’s exile. His sources are close to descendants of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials who chose to remain anonymous due to security concerns.

Highly Chinese officials continue to push fentanyl to the US, Yuan told The Epoch Times in a recent interview.

The fear of a plan that contradicts Beijing’s claims of being a responsible actor is one of the reasons why Beijing chose to head straight with Washington during the current tariff war, Yuan said.

During his first term, Trump pressed CCP leader Xi Jinping to stop the US from halting the flow of Chinese fentanyl precursors. However, Xi repeatedly introduces it to another part of China’s history, another part of the Opium War, accusing China of once transforming China into a semi-colonial society.

According to Yuan, Xi considers ramp-prolonged substance abuse in the US as “retaliation,” and a clear indicator of the concept XI assumed.

Project Zero was considered in that spirit, Ewan said.

Yuan taught for eight years at Beijing’s prestigious Peking University in China for another ten years, then another ten years at Gitzhou Ordinary University, a member of a province in southwestern China. He maintained his connections with China’s political and legal systems and those who hold important positions in the military.

The role of Beijing

For years, China has been the main source of illegal fentanyl and fentanyl-related substances being trafficked to the United States.

R. Evan Ellis, a research professor in Latin American Studies at the U.S. Army War College Strategic Institute, worked for the State Department’s Policy Planning Bureau under the first Trump administration that China began pushing China to curb fentanyl production. He has identified the Chinese city of Wuhan as a key fentanyl supplier for its “strong pharmaceutical and chemical industry.”

“China literally sent fentanyl packages through the post office and arrived directly from China,” Ellis told the Spanish version of the Epoch Times.

According to Aaron Graham, a former agent at the Drug Enforcement Bureau, Mexico has become an ideal location for China’s fentanyl distribution chain due to its history of drug smuggling and corruption.

“In Mexico, customs officials can get it and establish secret laboratories protected by police,” he told the Epoch Times.

“Everything is being protected by (Mexican) police,” Graham said. The cartel “has all the mechanisms in place, and perhaps most importantly, there is proximity.”

Beijing officials have denied being the head of the fentanyl crisis, claiming that the issue is “a US issue, not a Chinese issue.”

The House Selection Committee on CCP said in an April 2024 report that the administration has directly subsidized illegal drugs such as fentanyl materials and found that Chinese companies are eligible for tax rebates and other financial benefits after exporting precursor chemicals.

Beijing is offering financial grants and awards to businesses that “openly trafficke” “illegal fentanyl materials and other synthetic drugs,” the report said. Some companies also said they received site visits from state officials who praised them for their contribution to the local economy.

The Select Committee said that China’s security services “we are not cooperating with US law enforcement and have not even notified the goals of the US investigation when they receive requests for assistance.”

The report said the administration has allowed illegal drug sales on the internet in China, where it is strictly controlled. Chinese censors have set up online triggers to block some domestic drug deals, but they are not export-centric content, the report says.

“As our report revealed, through its actions, the Chinese Communist Party says it wants fentanyl to enter our country,” then-chairman Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) said in April 2024 that he accused CCP of the role of the fentanyl crisis.

I will not turn back

The Chinese administration is now a central target for US tariffs after Trump has removed it from a global mutual collection suspension and hiked the rate. Most Chinese goods imported into the US now face 145% collection. This includes a 20% obligation to deal with fentanyl in particular.

In a February statement explaining fentanyl-related tariffs in China, Trump said he hopes Beijing will be held responsible for promoting the synthetic opioid supply chain.

According to Yuan, Chinese communists have read current tensions as a sign that Washington learned about fentanyl plans.

“I believe XI hasn’t stepped back,” he told The Epoch Times. If the US government publishes its Project Zero Plan, XI could face criminal charges as “one of the world’s biggest drug lords.”

The Epoch Times contacted the State Department for comment on the administration’s project Zerofentanyl program.

Covid-19 Accountability

According to Yuan and his sources, the Chinese administration has another fear that prevents it from retreating in a trade war.

The court’s ruling was a blow to Xi, Ewan said. If the US continues to seek accountability more than the global spread of Covid-19, Xi will need to answer that, he said.

China’s Foreign Ministry also clarified Beijing’s stance in an April 29 video entitled “Never Kneel Down.” The video claimed that the US had set the administration a “fatal trap.”

Bowing said, “It only deepens the crisis by drinking poison to quench your thirst.”

Luo Ya and Estela Hernández contributed to this report.