U.S. ANTI-DRUG CZAR STARTS CHINA VISIT

BEIJING (Reuters) - U.S. government drug czar Barry McCaffrey began
his first visit to China on Saturday for talks aimed at stemming the
``cancer'' of narcotics.

He said his visit, the first to China by a director of U.S. drug
policy, was an historic opportunity to broaden their dialogue on an
issue of enormous importance to both countries.

China is a major transshipment point for drugs from Myanmar, which
produces more than 100 tons of heroin annually, McCaffrey said.
Although China had nearly eliminated growing of opium poppies, whose
juice is used to process heroin, the production of crystal
methamphetamine -- or ``ice'' -- and the drug ``Ecstasy'' was a
growing problem, he said.

``I think what our purpose during this visit will be to broaden the
dialogue to ensure that it includes not just police cooperation but
scientific, medical and drug prevention messages,'' McCaffrey said.

Plagued by opium addiction before 1949, China nearly wiped out drug
abuse after the Communist revolution, but narcotics have staged a
comeback since free market reforms in 1978.

Alarmed by a rapid rise in drug smuggling, China's top police
drug-buster Yang Fengrui unveiled plans in March to step up the war on
drugs.

Yang, National Narcotics Control Commission vice director, told state
media that 16 tons of ice was seized last year -- 10 times more than
in 1998 -- as well as 5.3 tons of heroin.

Golden Triangle

Much of that came from border regions near the so-called Golden
Triangle, the area where Myanmar, Laos and Thailand meet, Yang told a
national narcotics conference.

McCaffrey, who is on a three-nation tour, will survey treatment
programs and discuss anti-trafficking cooperation.

He will meet drug officials in Beijing and visit a treatment center in
Kunming, a city near the drug-infested border with Myanmar, the U.S.
embassy said.

With a delegation including U.S. drug research experts and Coast Guard
officials, he will also visit Hong Kong, a Special Administrative
Region of China, Vietnam and Thailand.

The U.S. delegation would also seek China's viewpoint on neighboring
North Korea, McCaffrey said. There was growing evidence that North
Korea produced opium and methamphetamine, which was smuggled to other
countries, but it was hard to determine if such activity was
state-sponsored, he said.

Kunming, which the U.S. drug czar will visit on June 20, is the
capital of Yunnan, an ``embattled frontier province'' and a gateway
for heroin from Myanmar, McCaffrey said.

The southwestern province has the country's biggest drug problem and
executes some 400 drug dealers each year after public
denunciations.

China sentenced 4,193 citizens last year for growing opium poppies,
Yang said.

It had 680,000 registered drug addicts by the end of 1999, a rise of
14.3 percent over the previous year, state media said. Heroin
dominated the list, with 490,000 addicts.

Eighty percent of Chinese drug addicts were male and 78 percent were
between the ages of 17 and 35, Yang said.