The House Select Committee on China’s Communist Party has alleged that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has subsidized the manufacturing and export of materials used to produce fentanyl through tax rebates.
The committee’s report, based on a months-long investigation into Chinese websites, government documents, and data points for narcotics companies, suggests that the CCP’s control over the country has led to direct funding of the global fentanyl crisis.
According to the report’s findings, the CCP provided tax rebates to companies involved in the manufacturing and export of illicit fentanyl materials and other synthetic narcotics. Additionally, the committee found evidence that the CCP awarded monetary grants and awards to companies openly engaged in trafficking fentanyl materials.
The CCP also reportedly holds ownership in several companies connected to drug trafficking, including a government prison implicated in human rights abuses that owns a drug trafficking chemical company.
The report indicates that rather than cooperating with U.S. law enforcement to investigate drug traffickers, the People’s Republic of China’s security services refuse to collaborate. This lack of cooperation has hindered efforts to address the fentanyl crisis.
The committee chairs emphasized the devastating impact of fentanyl on Americans, with more than 200 deaths attributed to the drug each day.
They suggested that the federal government should establish a joint task force to coordinate efforts to identify weaknesses in the fentanyl supply chain, provide law enforcement and intelligence officials with additional tools, and enhance trade and customs enforcement measures to prevent the entry of fentanyl into the country.