Letter to Congressional Leaders on Certification of Major Drug Producing and Transit Countries - Transcript

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, Nov 6, 2000

November 1, 2000

Dear___________:

In accordance with the provisions of section 490(h) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as amended (the "Foreign Assistance Act"), I have determined that the following are major illicit drug producing or major drug-transit countries: Afghanistan, The Bahamas, Bolivia, Brazil, Burma, Cambodia, China, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Laos, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Panama, Paragnay, Peru, Thailand, Venezuela, and Vietnam. This year I have removed Hong Kong and Taiwan from the list of major illicit drug producing or major drug-transit countries (the "Majors List").

The Majors List, as required by section 490(h) of the Foreign Assistance Act, applies to "countries." The term "countries" is interpreted broadly to include certain entities that exercise autonomy over actions or omissions that would lead to a decision to place them on the list and subsequently to determine eligibility or certification. Therefore, in the past, the Majors List has included certain entities that are not sovereign states.

I wish to make clear that a country's presence on the list of major drug-transit countries is not necessarily an adverse reflection on its counterdrug efforts or on the level of its cooperation with the United States. Among the reasons that major drug-transit countries are placed on the list is the combination of geographical, commercial, and economic factors that allow drugs to transit through a country, in many cases despite the most assiduous enforcement measures.

I also wish to note my concern over the rising imports of foreign-origin, illegal synthetic drugs into the United States, especially MDMA ("Ecstasy") from Europe. We are still collecting information on this problem, and it is a trend that bears watching closely in future years.

Changes to the List

Removal of Hong Kong. Hong Kong has been considered a major drug-transit country since 1987, when the first Majors List was prepared. Its proximity to the Golden Triangle opium cultivation countries of Thailand, Laos, and Burma, along with its highly developed air and sea transport infrastructure, made it a logical transit point for trafficking organizations moving Southeast Asian heroin to the United States and other countries in the Western Hemisphere.

Over the past few years, however, Hong Kong's role as a transit point for U.S.-bound drugs has declined markedly, due to several factors. Stringent enforcement measures and extradition agreements with various countries, including the United States, and the risk of having narcotics shipments seized, have become effective deterrents to shipping drugs through Hong Kong. At the same time, drug flows from China through Hong Kong have diminished significantly. As China continues to develop its coastal cargo-handling facilities and expands port operations in the south, there is less incentive for drug traffickers to re-export and transship cargo through Hong Kong.

Seizure rates in both the United States and Hong Kong suggest that trafficking organizations are no longer using Hong Kong as a transit point for U.S.-destined heroin. Since 1996, there have been no significant seizures in the United States of heroin linked with Hong Kong. Similarly, the Hong Kong authorities report that in the past two years they have made no large seizures locally of heroin destined for the United States. Consequently, I am removing Hong Kong from the Majors List and downgrading it to a country of concern. If in the future there is evidence of drug flows through Hong Kong that significantly affect the United States, Hong Kong will again be placed on the Majors List.

Removal of Taiwan. In the early 1990s, Taiwan became a transit point for Asian drug trafficking organizations moving heroin to the Western Hemisphere. The largest U.S. heroin seizure on record is the nearly halfton of heroin that U.S. authorities discovered in Hayward, California in 1991. The drugs, which originated in China, had transited Taiwan en route to the United States. Given Taiwan's role in that transshipment and evidence of Taiwan-related drug flows to the United States at that time, I added Taiwan to the Majors List in 1995.

Taiwan's role as transit point for drugs destined for the United States, however, has changed radically in the past few years. More stringent law enforcement procedures, together with improved customs inspection and surveillance methods, have all but cut off serious flows of heroin from Taiwan to the United States. At the same time, the opening of major container ports in southern China has diminished Taiwan's importance for the drug trade.

Since Taiwan was designated a major drug-transit country, there have been no seizures in the United States of heroin that transited Taiwan, nor have Taiwan authorities identified any important drug shipments destined for the United States. Therefore, I am removing Taiwan from the Majors List and downgrading it to a country of concern. If in the future we detect any drug flows through Taiwan that significantly affect the United States, Taiwan will again be placed on the Majors List.