FBI now in a “sharing of evidence” PARTNERSHIP WITH CHINA (where they execute drug traffickers)
“This is an important moment, and it’s the first legal agreement between these two great countries,” …. Barry McCaffrey
McCaffrey is the evil, treasonous Statist in charge of the U. S. War on Drugs
Transcript: Drug Control Policy Chief on U.S.-China Agreement
(U.S., China sign Mutual Legal Assistance Agreement)
June 20, 2000
The United States and China have signed a Mutual Legal Assistance Agreement that will allow both countries to begin sharing evidence and information relating to crime and drugs, according to General Barry R. McCaffrey, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP).
“This is an important moment, and it’s the first legal agreement between these two great countries,” McCaffrey said in a June 19 press conference.
He said the agreement will provide the opportunity for China and the United States to pursue discussions on sharing strategic drug intelligence, to better coordinate money laundering cooperation between multi-national law enforcement organizations, and to better coordinate precursor chemical control agreements for methamphetamines, heroin, and cocaine.
McCaffrey added that both sides were discussing possible cooperation between the FBI and the Chinese authorities, coordination of drug signature analysis, and cooperation on arms smuggling, which is related to drug criminal organizations.
McCaffrey is leading the highest-level delegation ever to visit China to deal with drug control issues. Accompanying him are U.S. officials from the National Institute of Drug Abuse, the Department of State, the National Security Council, the Coast Guard, and the Drug Enforcement Agency. After visiting China and Hong Kong, McCaffrey will visit Hanoi and Bangkok for further drug control discussions.
Following is a transcript of the press conference:
(begin transcript)
General Barry R. McCaffrey, Director White House Office of National Drug Control Policy Press Conference, U.S. Embassy Beijing June 19, 2000
Mr. Bishop: Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the American Embassy Public Affairs Section. It’s a great pleasure to welcome to Beijing today a member of the President’s Cabinet, the Director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, General Barry McCaffrey. And it’s also a great pleasure to welcome some of his counterparts who have come today to join the press conference: Mr. Yang Fengrui, the Director-General of the Narcotics Control Bureau at the Ministry of Public Security, Mr. Wei Xiaojun, Division Director in the same bureau, and also Mr. Zhang Daoming, Section Chief of the Narcotics Control Bureau at the Ministry of Public Security.
I’m sure the General has a few remarks to open the press conference. This will be on the record. Afterwards, as you ask your question be sure to identify yourselves — General McCaffrey.
General McCaffrey: Okay, let me, if I may, make some brief remarks, and then I think we will be glad to open ourselves to your own questions. I begin by repeating, if I may, Don’s comments of welcome to our Chinese associates. I thank you for being here. It is important for me to be seen standing with Chinese officials to begin a new partnership. Mr. Yang Fengrui led the Chinese delegations to the United Sates, and I was honored to meet with you and your associates in Washington.
Let me also introduce our own delegation and pay particular note to Dr. Ken Conden from the National Institute of Drug Abuse, and he is here to underscore our fundamental commitment to seeing this problem as one being based on a scientific approach to prevention and treatment. And also, Mr. Jim Callahan, who is Secretary Albright’s colleague dealing with international narcotics and crime issues; Mr. Fred Rosa from our National Security Council who assists in organizing our own interagency process; Coast Guard Rear Admiral Jim Olson who is charged with the responsibility of organizing all U.S. interdiction efforts in the Pacific; Mr. Billy Simpson from the Drug Enforcement Agency in Washington; and a very key associate Mr. Luis Burgos who is our Drug Enforcement Administration Representative here in the U.S. Embassy China.
We have had an impressive beginning to a historic first conference. It was a great honor for me to be the first U.S. Drug Policy Director to come to this huge nation and to bring representatives of all of our principal anti-drug agencies in the U.S. Government. We had an extremely useful conference chaired by the Vice Minister of Public Security Bao Jingfu. We were able to visit and tour the Ministry of Public Security Forensic Laboratory and begin discussions on scientific cooperation between law enforcement institutions. We had a meeting with the Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs Tang Yesui and his associates to begin discussion on cooperation among regional partners.
It was an honor for me to open the 4th U.S.-China Joint Liaison Group Meeting, and that meeting is still ongoing, chaired by a senior representative of Attorney General Janet Reno and a senior representative of Secretary of Treasury Larry Summers. I am delighted to announce that today the United States and China did sign a Mutual Legal Assistance Agreement, allowing both China and the United States to begin sharing evidence and information relating to crime and drugs. This is an important moment, and it’s the first legal agreement between these two great countries.
Finally today I had the opportunity to meet with Deputy Minister for Sports for anti-doping Li Furong and his associates. The Chinese have been important partners in the establishment of the worldwide anti-doping agency. And this is the fourth time we have meet with Chinese sports officials on this subject. Both nations are committed to saying “enough is enough” on doping in sports, and we will work closely with the Australian and Canadian co-chairs to ensure international governmental oversight of the anti-doping agency.
And finally I would tell you later on this evening will have a wrap up meeting with the Minister of Public Security and his associates to finalize our discussions here in Beijing. Tomorrow the Ministry of Public Security will sponsor a visit for my delegation to Kunming in Yunnan Province where we will not only have an opportunity to discuss the drug issue with local leadership, both political and law enforcement, but also to visit a drug treatment center.
There have been several points that I expressed with my Chinese counterparts. First, we came here to listen and learn. Both these nations face common problems, in particular from both heroin and methamphetamines. The United States has some five million chronic addicts, of which a little under million are addicted to heroin. Methamphetamines is a new and terrible challenge to the United States. Last year U.S. law enforcement authorities eliminated more 2,000 methamphetamine production sites — most of them small mom and pop operations — and so we were eager to discuss with our Chinese interlocutors the common threat posed by these two drugs in this region. Afghanistan and Burma produce 90 percent of the heroin in the world. Now we are seeing huge new productions of methamphetamines from the same criminal organizations in Burma that are producing heroin. And these drugs are a threat to all of the countries of the region.
We have discussed further aspects of demand reduction, and Dr. Conden and I and our Drug Enforcement Administration officials have invited Chinese authorities to come to the United States and continue this dialogue. Our purpose in these visits today was to open a door leading to far wider cooperation against drugs. And I thank all of you for these dialogues today. On that note, let me also underscore that when I leave China we go then Hong Kong and to Hanoi and to Bangkok for further discussions. But obviously it was important for me to begin this trip here in Beijing and to learn the views of Chinese leadership.
Let me, if I may, open myself or any of my delegation to your questions or listen to your own comments. Thank you.
Q: Frank Langfitt, Baltimore Sun: I understand that you came here to listen and learn, but I was wondering if through your talks you came up with any thoughts about the specific kinds of cooperation that there could be between China and the United States. I know there has been some before. I was wondering if you had any specific things in mind?
McCaffrey: There are a series of things that the Joint Liaison Group is already discussing. We talked first of the requirement to discuss strategic drug intelligence and not just specific drug case evidence. These are international criminal organizations, not national criminal organizations. As example I offer the huge Nigerian criminal presence in Thailand. We offer the opportunity to better coordinate money laundering cooperation between multi-national law enforcement organizations. That is why Secretary Summers has a senior representative here at the JLG.
We talked about the need to better coordinate precursor chemical control agreements both for methamphetamines, heroin and cocaine. I might add, in many cases, the drugs that are produced in one country don’t necessarily influence the United States. The methamphetamines consumed in the United States come from two great drug-producing regions: Mexico and California. But it is still essential to cooperate on precursor chemical control among the many nations. We talked about the requirement to coordinate drug signature analysis. Our own Drug Enforcement Administration has begun a first rate program of analysis of drug seizures in the United States and we have offered to share this information with our Chinese counterparts. And finally I mention the requirement, particularly in the United States, to cooperate on arms smuggling which is related to drug criminal organizations. We also discussed possible cooperation between the U.S. FBI and the Chinese authorities. And this is just the beginning.
Perhaps I would offer my Chinese colleague if he would add any words.
Director-General Yang Fengrui: I’d like to thank Mr. McCaffrey for inviting me to this press conference, and I’m very glad to have this opportunity to meet friends from the Chinese and foreign press. This morning when Mr. McCaffrey first arrived, he held very constructive talks with Mr. Bai Jingfu, head of National Drug Control Commission and Vice Minister of Public Security. Mr. McCaffrey’s delegation is the highest delegation we’ve ever had in this field.
I want to use this opportunity to say something about China’s present situation with drugs and the measures taken to combat drug trafficking. As we all know, both China and the United States are victims, not producers of drugs like heroin. More than 100 years ago, China suffered a lot from the Opium War. After the founding of the People’s Republic, it didn’t take us long to accomplish drug elimination. Since the early 1980s, due to influence from international drug sources, we saw a resurgence in China’s drug addiction, and it spread quickly in certain areas.
China’s main problem is heroin, which comes mainly from the Golden Triangle in Southeast Asia, and likewise, methamphetamine that has come mainly from foreign countries, but we have destroyed some underground factories in China as well. The Chinese Government has made up its mind to prohibit the use of drugs. We have put forth tremendous efforts to prevent drug trafficking using China as a transit point, investigating a number of drug cases, striking international drug dealers, stopping drug addiction, conducting preventive education, and guarding against possible market expansion, and these efforts have achieved a great deal.
We emphasize international cooperation in curbing drug problems. Both China and the United States agree that drugs are a common threat to the international community, and the public enemy of the entire human race. Drugs are destroying not only the health of our people, but also the health of our children, which is our most valuable resource. Drugs are the root cause of all evils. Extensive international cooperation is needed to tackle the drug problem.
I believe all of you are much concerned about bilateral cooperation between China and the United States, both in the past and in the future, which Mr. McCaffrey has just talked about. Maybe now you want to get the Chinese side of the picture. China and the U.S. have enjoyed a cooperative relationship in drug prohibition. Since the early 1980s, the two countries have been engaged in this kind of cooperation. In 1987, the two governments signed a memorandum on drug prohibition cooperation, and in 1997, Chinese President Jiang Zemin and U.S. President Bill Clinton concluded a joint statement, under which there has been much cooperation in intelligence exchange, crime prevention, extradition of criminals, and so on. We have also exchanged liaison officers with each other, making much progress in drug prohibition. These are the things we did in the past, and I believe Mr. McCaffrey’s visit will open a new vista for our future cooperation.
We believe we have common interests in drug prohibition, and we ought to play a more important role in dealing with international narcotic problems. We shall carry out more extensive cooperation, including the exchange of international narcotic intelligence, joint attacks against international drug dealers, and cooperation in investigation and escort of suspects. Other areas shall include exchanging captured drug samples, striking against methamphetamine trafficking, strengthening controls on chemicals etc. We agree that in order to deal with drug problems both inside and outside our countries, we will strengthen preventive education to our own people, especially for the young, and bring ordinary citizens into this huge project. As we all know, stopping drugs, especially heroine addiction, (TMM emphasis and note: we wonder what the State Department has against our obsession with a fine heroine or two?) is not an easy task. Despite all the possible difficulties, we will take up scientifically sound measures to terminate drug addiction, encourage the active involvement of community, charitable institutions and the entire society. I just completed a 20 day visit to the States with a Chinese delegation, and we get the feeling that our U.S. counterparts have many things we ought to learn from. We should strengthen future exchanges and learning, and strive together for the cause of drug prohibition. That’s all, thank you.
McCaffrey: Thank you very much for those words. Any questions?
Q: Wall Street Journal: I remember about ten years, ago when it became clear that there was a new drug shipment route which went from Burma through China and out eastern China, how interesting that was, and how enforcement agencies had to readjust in order to combat this. I was wondering if since that time if you have become aware of any other shipment routes? New ones that are going out from China perhaps through the northwest, Pakistan and Afghanistan? Another question — to what extent are drugs that are produced or shipped through China ending up in markets in the United States? And finally, to what extent have you noticed that Chinese organized crime groups, based either in China or Hong Kong, are active in drug markets in the United States? Thanks.
McCaffrey: I could normally get no farther than the second question. It is an interesting problem. The United States has just less than a million chronic addicts. We probably consume about 15 metric tons of heroin a year. The world probably produces more than 400 metric tons of heroin a year. Last year, 72 percent of the heroin seizures in the United States came from Columbia and Mexico– the Colombians producing some 6 metric tons of heroin and the Mexicans around 4 metric tons.
I tell you that to show in a comparative sense almost none of the Afghanistan heroin — the major producer — comes to the United States. And I am not sure about Burma, but maybe the number is 17 percent of the U.S. consumption. Clearly the smuggling routes run out through China, out through Vietnam, out through Cambodia, out through Thailand, out west across the northern part of Pakistan-India. And they are run by international criminal organizations: Russians, Chinese, Nigerians, Mexicans, you name it. At the end of the day they get to the United States. They are sold by Americans. We do see a dynamic continuing change to the drug threat in the international community.
It has certainly been a major argument for cooperation with the United Nations Drug Control Program. Before I came on this trip I consulted with Mr. Pino Arlocky of the United Nations Drug Control Program and went to see Mr. Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary General. In some cases, the United Nations has the only effective drug control efforts. Certainly both Burma and Afghanistan are in that category.
Q: (Inaudible – paraphrase) How involved are Chinese in drug trafficking in the U.S.?
McCaffrey: There are 120 thousand U.S. federal prisoners. The number has doubled in a decade. About 2/3 of them are there for drug related criminal offenses. These are not small time drug criminals, these are national drug threats. It is generally the case that half are American and half are foreigners. And the foreigners are Dominicans, Mexicans, Colombians, Russians, Nigerians, you name it, Chinese. So there are Chinese international drug criminals clearly involved in this trade.
Well, what we have said is there is a common thread in all these nations. In general in the United States, drug consumption has gone down and not up. We moved from 14 percent of the country using drugs in 1979 to 6 percent today. Almost all drug-related crime has come down along with that general reduction in drug use.
For example drug related murders are down by 50 percent since 1985. So as general rule, the U.S. drug-related criminal problems are getting smaller. But it is dynamic. New drugs are appearing such as methamphetamines, and it is affecting new populations. One of the lowest rates of drug abuse in our society are Afro-Americans age 30 and below. One of the highest rates of drug use in our society are medical personnel. So we still have an enormous problem in the United States. I think we’re about beyond our limit. Perhaps one more question.
Q: [Japanese Wire Service] Have you talked about the problem about amphetamines from North Korea with the Chinese side?
McCaffrey: Well, the Charge, Gene Martin, did give me the opportunity to have lunch with what is call the “Mini-Dublin Group.” I met with representatives of Japan, Great Britain, Germany, Sweden, Canada, and other nations. Clearly Japan is of enormous importance to the United States from many aspects, including economic and political, and the threat to Japan is principally methamphetamines. We are concerned about alleged methamphetamine production and smuggling from North Korea. And we will want to learn more about this problem from Japanese authorities and other regional partners.
Well thank you very much for the chance to meet with you and for those of you going to Kunming, we’ll see you tomorrow.
(end transcript)
Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site:
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