NEW PLAYER IN THE DRUG TRADE

China is emerging as a major player in the drug trade in the Golden
Triangle -- the area including Laos, Burma and Thailand that produces
80 per cent of the world's heroin and opium. China hasn't been this
active in 20 years, both as a producer and a market. Drugs form
poppies grown in the Golden Triangle are distributed by ethnic Chinese
gangs into their country for its 3 million opium addicts, then routed
to Chinese ports for export.

This degree of activity signals that high-level organizations are
involved, though whether it is sanctioned by the government, as in
Burma, is unclear. It's unlikely, since China imposes harsh penalties
on drug offenses, and China's leaders appear embarrassed by the trade.
But we're suspicious since CIA sources tell us the question of
Beijing's complicity in the drug trade is "classified."

Our drug Enforcement Administration is trying to help stop the trade
in the Golden Triangle. The DEA has opened an office in Beijing and
runs a school in Thailand in train area counter-drug agents. And it
should soon have a presence in Vietnam. "This is not something the
Vietnamese take lightly," U.S. Ambassador Pete Peterson told us.
"Their punishment for drug trafficking is death."