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In a section on Hong Kong, the Survey stated that the Crown Colony was not only a major consumer of illicit opiates (an estimated 150,000 users), but also a major transit point. Playing down the Survey, Com- missioner Kolph denied that Hong Kong was a major transit point for drug traffickers, although he admitted that the port is used “to a cer- tain extent." Another Hong Kong Government drug expert. Dr. L. K. Ding, also disputed the Survey's estimate of local drug users by con- tending that the figure should be between 80,000 and 100,000 and no higher.
THE UNITED STATES MISSION
To coordinate the United States antidrug effort in Hong Kong, the United States Consulate has established three groups designed to deal with all aspects of the problem. At the top is an overall mission com- mittee on which everyone tasked with a narcotics assignment is rep- resented. The second group acts as a liaison to the Hong Kong Com- munity with the local chamber of commerce acting as the focal point. The U.S. Consul General started the program when it become evident that young people in the America community were becoming heavily involved in drugs. The third group is the intelligence committee which included representatives from the enforcement and intelligence agencies of the Consulate, This committee will soon be expanded to include representatives from the immigration section, the Defense Liaison, and Customs.
While the Survey Team was told the antidrug effort was one of the Consulate's highest priorities, one official complained that, aside from those associated with enforcement agencies, the other members of the mission do not give the problem proper attention nor are they moti-
rated to do so.
The Survey Team was also informed that although Hong Kong is a major consumer, conduit, and financier of narcoties originating in Southeast Asia. U.S. Government activities relating to the Crown Colony are centered in BXDD's Far East region which includes Manila, 1'.I. (the regional headquarters), Tokyo, Seoul, Japan and Okinawa. Representatives of the United States Narcotics Control Committee told the Survey Team that if Hong Kong were placed in the Southeast Asia region that the overall narcotics suppression effort in that area would be more effective.
In terms of intelligence collection, the United States Mission in Hong Kong admittedly has gotten a late start. As a result, the esti- mates citing local consumption, prices, and local narcotics operatives are dated and misleading. Indicative of the shortcomings of narcotics intelligence in Hong Kong is the fact that no concrete information is available on the heroin “chemists” who originate in the Colony." It is widely assumed that Hong Kong is a major source of these technicians who are vital to the heroin trade. Yet, without a solid fix on their movements, they will continue to operate with impunity,
*These "chemists” are not university-trained hat could best be termed "brew-masters" who have learned their trade through apprenticeship.
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While the United States Consulate recognizes those problems, there has been only a nominal effort to alleviate those conditions throngh United States assistance. For example, in November 1971, the con- sulate's overall narcoties action committee drafted a request for $190,000 to send local law enforcement officials to the United States for narcotics training. However, there has been no followup on this re- quest. Given the fact that Hong Kong only has one man per mile of coastline in enforcement work and given the staggering amount of traffic through the Colony, a major effort to upgrade local enforce- ment capabilities is necđèd."
THE PEOPLE's Republic of CHINA
Actually, little is known about opium production in mainland China. That country is not a signatory of the Single Convention on Narcotics and does not report production figures or control procedures to the United Nations. It is known that the Government of the Peoples Republic of China does control the production and use of opiates in China.
According to several U.S. officials in Southeast Asia, it is possible that some of the opium which is produced in the part of Yunnan Province which Lorders the Golden Triangle is transported into Burma. It is the opinion of these oficials, however, that if any Chinese opium does enter the world markets, it does so in spite of the govern- nient of the People's Republic of China awd not with off-ini approval. There have been other reports that such controls do not extend out- side of China and that the People's Republic is involved in the pro- duction and illegal export of nareoties,
For example, the Washington Post reported on October 8, 1972, that "The Soviet Union is currently accusing China of involvement in the production and illegal export of narcoties.” In addition, on May 17, 1972, a Miss Yuan Moun-Ru, a political refuges from mainland China, told the Subcommittee on Asian and Pacific Affairs of the House Com- mittee on Foreign Affairs that she saw the Chinese Communists Liberation Artay growing opinm. She further stated that “it is illegal to sell opium or other narcoties in Communist China, although a black market in opinn exists. The government controls all the opium for exports, especially for the United States.”
U.S. narcotics officials cannot verify these reports. The official U.S. Government position has been outlined by the Cabinet Committee on International Narcotics Control in the World Opium Survey, 1972. In that document, the Cabinet Committce stated:
There is no rellable evidence that China has either engaged in or sanctioned the illicit export of oplum and its derivatives nor are there any indications of gorerament participation in the opium trade of Southeast Asia and adjacent markets, British authorities In Hong Kong belleve that most of the oplum and related narcotics seized in Hong Kong in recent years comes into the Colony by sea from Southeast Asia.
This was also the consensus of U.S. officials in Southeast Asia.
17.700 ships lond and unload yearly and twice that number pass through with more than 1 million passengers. In addition, ferries carry 1 million passengers between long Kong and Macao.
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