US to step up work with Pacific nations to halt drug trafficking
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The US has frequently criticised Chinese firms for their role in the global fentanyl supply chain.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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SYDNEY - The US will work with Pacific Island nations to rein in drug trafficking by criminal networks from China, which use the region as a way station for narcotics exports to the US, Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell said on Aug 29.
Grappling with a spike in overdose deaths, the US has frequently criticised Chinese firms for their role in the global fentanyl supply chain, while island nations Fiji and Tonga have seen a rise in methamphetamine seizures in 2024.
The US is determined to assist on the drug front and will make an announcement next week on law enforcement regarding drugs in the Pacific, an issue that increasingly troubles regional leaders, Mr Campbell said.
“We are concerned some of the networks that have grown in China and South-east Asia are beginning to use the Pacific for transshipment both to Latin America and the United States,” he told reporters in Vanuatu.
“Many of our partners in the Pacific want to work with us to try to get a handle on that.”
The US could help with efforts in areas such as drug interdiction, treatment and prevention, he added.
Mr Campbell was in Vanuatu to formally open the US embassy, a day after meeting leaders at the Pacific Islands Forum in Tonga.
The Solomon Islands, which struck a security pact with China
Mr Campbell also met China’s Pacific envoy Qian Bo in Tonga on Aug 28, and said they discussed finding areas of cooperation in the Pacific, such as a climate change project, which he said regional leaders had welcomed.
“Many of those countries want to see the United States and China keeping lines of communication open and finding potential, even if they are only narrow, areas of possible cooperation or engagement,” he said.
“The Pacific has made clear that it does not want to be in a battle or a battle zone between conflicting large powers and we respect that.”
The US was working to offer financing for small business to revive tourism, hospital infrastructure and telecommunications links in Vanuatu, he said, to ensure Pacific Island countries a choice of partners. China is Vanuatu’s largest external creditor after a decade of infrastructure construction by its companies.
On Aug 28, the Pacific Island Forum backed an Australian-funded A$400 million (S$354 million) plan to improve police training in the region and create a mobile policing unit.
Australia has previously said it was concerned about China’s growing police presence in the region, and boosting the capability of Pacific police will reduce the need for Chinese police. REUTERS
