TEXT: INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS REPORT -- CHINA
(Counternarcotics, law enforcement cooperation uneven)

The State Department has just released its annual International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR), to accompany the release of the president's drug certification decisions. Following is the section on China:

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STATEMENT OF EXPLANATION

CHINA

China continue to play a key role as a major transit route for Southeast Asian heroin destined for the U.S. and other Western Markets. Addiction and violent crime associated with China's proximity to the Golden Triangle and its flow of narcotics continue to engage the attention of Chinese authorities. In April 1996, China's Ministry of Public Security began a nationwide anti-crime campaign called "Strike Hard," which placed special emphasis on drug interdiction efforts: opium seizures in the first ten months of 1996 were up 26 percent over all of 1995, and heroin seizures in the first ten months of 1996 were up 47 percent over the entire amount seized in 1995. China continues to be an active participant in the United Nations Drug Control Program and in 1996 signed mutual legal assistance treaties, with specific attention to narcotics trafficking, with Russia, Mexico and Pakistan. It is also a party to the 1988 UN Drug Convention.

Counternarcotics and law enforcement cooperation with the United States continues to be uneven, although senior U.S. arid Chinese officials have publicly recognized the common interest in enhanced cooperation. Lower level officials continue to express a desire to expand cooperation, and working-level dialogue and information sharing have improved and expanded in some respects. Chinese officials participated in a two-week regional cooperation seminar in Bangkok conducted by DEA and in a program to help law enforcement officials detect and prevent illegal transshipments of precursor chemicals. U.S. Customs representatives also taught interdiction techniques to Chinese officials in Sichuan Province. But China in 1996 also denied, "for now," a USG request to be allowed to open a joint DEA/FBI office at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing.

China's continued strong stand against crime and official corruption has been widely publicized. Chinese leaders and law enforcement authorities have recognized that rapid economic growth has contributed to the spread of corruption, including among lower level officials. Penalties for such transgressions are severe and include execution.

China is a major chemical producer. The interest PRC officials have shown in techniques for controlling sales and shipments of chemical precursors indicate growing recognition of China's role as a a target for criminals seeking to illegally procure or divert such chemicals. China's recognition of its susceptibility to money laundering also appears to be growing, but domestic mechanisms for assessing and addressing the problem are only beginning to catch up to the challenge.

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