We know by now when US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan, her son Paul Pelosi Jr accompanied her as an undocumented team member. Initially when the media began reporting Paul Pelosi Jr’s Taiwan rendezvous, left-leaning media outlets started frantic bids in outrightly branding it as lie or fake news. But later, as the video and several photographs emerged proving Paul Pelosi Jr’s presence in Taiwan, Nancy Pelosi herself had to admit it stating, he was her “escort”. No one questioned, why the name of Pelosi’s “escort” was hidden from the list of official entourages.
No one has asked yet – what would be the possible consequence of Nancy Pelosi’s Taiwan trip. A war between the United States and China? Meaning, death of too many Americans? Other than this, there would be no tangible benefit to the American tax payers. Yes, the key beneficiary of this trip is Pelosi’s son, who would possibly make tons of cash through lithium trade. Paul Pelosi Jr heads a number of lithium mining companies.
Meanwhile, Washington has started slamming Beijing for suspending cooperation on drug trafficking matters – including the trafficking of fentanyl, much of which actually originates from Afghanistan, Lebanon and Myanmar. There also is fentanyl racket in the Philippines.
On August 8, 2022, accusing China, Rahul Gupta, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy said, China’s actions are disappointing in light of a drug problem that killed more than 100,000 Americans only in 2021. It may be mentioned here that, fentanyl and its analogs have been banned in China since 2019, while it remains one of the key sources of drug that is supercharged the overdose epidemic in the US.
In his statement, Rahul Gupta said: “At a time when illicit fentanyl continues to claim a life every five minutes, it’s unacceptable that the PRC (People’s Republic of China) is withholding cooperation that would help to bring to justice individuals who traffic these illicit drugs and who engage in this global criminal enterprise”.
He further said, “China has played and must play a key role in helping disrupt the illicit flow of drugs like fentanyl and their precursor chemicals”.
In August 2021, according to a Reuters report from the time, a congressional advisory panel said poor cooperation from the Chinese government had impeded efforts to slow fentanyl trafficking to the United States.
Among other things, the panel found, regulatory authorities in China often sit on requests to investigate alleged sites where precursor chemicals are being manufactured, Reuters reported.
However, Reuters reported last week that Biden had talked about the issue with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a July phone call and that the two leaders had directed their staffs to do follow-up work.
The cooperation has now been suspended, while, according to a statement issued in Chinese Xinhua news agency, Beijing is putting the blame on the US government.
“In disregard of China’s stern warning and repeated representations, US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi insisted on her provocative visit to China’s Taiwan region, which seriously undermined the political foundation of China-US relations,” said Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin, according to Xinhua.
“As for the fentanyl abuse in the United States, I’d like to say that first, the root of the crisis lies in the US,” he said.
“Second, China has made great efforts to help the United States solve the fentanyl problem”.
It may be mentioned here that, the US has been making frantic bids in challenging sovereignty of China by portraying Taiwan as a country and “freest” in the world. Heritage Foundation report has made this projection, where the US is ranked 25th. Any attempt of challenging China’s sovereignty and unnecessary attempting of portraying Taiwan as a “country” instead of being an integral part of the mainland China would ultimately cause severe consequence for the Taiwanese people. Such attempts would push Taiwan into military confrontations between China and the US, which may bring Afghanistan or Ukraine type consequence in that country. Western nation’s foul game in Taiwan actually goes against the interest of the Taiwanese people.
Secondly, by annoying China and putting blames on Beijing for the increase in availability of fentanyl in the US, there may not be any solution to this issue. Instead, things would actually worsen. American policymakers also need to realize, fentanyl consignments are not entering the US soil from China. It is coming from other countries, including Myanmar. Of course, the US can always seek China’s cooperation in destroying the supply chain of fentanyl. But it cannot be done through hostility. Nancy Pelosi actually has done further damage to by visiting Taiwan and giving signals of beginning war against China. Earlier Joe Biden has also signaled of sending American troops to Taiwan. Meaning, the Democrats are willing to open a new war front when they have faced humiliating defeat in Afghanistan and now struggling to make real progress in Ukrainian war front.
