Golden Triangle146;s China Angle

The enduring image of Southeast Asia8217;s Golden Triangle is of brightly coloured poppy fields, opium-smoking hill tribes and heroin labs hidden in the jungle.

The enduring image of Southeast Asia8217;s Golden Triangle is of brightly coloured poppy fields, opium-smoking hill tribes and heroin labs hidden in the jungle. But the reality is that after years of producing the lion8217;s share of the world8217;s opium, the Golden Triangle is now only a bit player in the global heroin trade.

8220;From our vantage point, we see a region that is rapidly moving toward an opium-free status,8221; said Antonio Maria Costa, executive director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. But the decline of the Golden Triangle is a major, if little noticed, milestone in the war on drugs. The question now is whether that success can be sustained.

Three decades ago, the northernmost reaches of Laos, Thailand and Myanmar produced more than 70 per cent of all the opium sold worldwide. Today the area produces about 5 per cent of the world total.

What happened? Economic pressure from China, crackdowns on opium farmers , and a switch by criminal syndicates to methamphetamine production, appear to have had the biggest impact. At the same time, some insurgent groups that once were financed with drug money now say they are urging farmers to eradicate their poppy fields.

As a result, the Golden Triangle has been eclipsed by the Golden Crescent 8212; the poppy-growing area in and around Afghanistan that is now the source of an estimated 92 per cent of the world8217;s opium, according to the United Nations.

A striking aspect of the decline of the Golden Triangle is the role China has played in pressing opium-growing regions to eradicate poppy crops. A major market for Golden Triangle heroin, China has seen a spike in addicts and HIV infections from contaminated needles.

The area of Myanmar along the Chinese border, which once produced about 30 per cent of the country8217;s opium, was declared opium-free last year.

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8220;China has had an underestimated role,8221; said Martin Jelsma, a Dutch researcher who has written extensively on the illicit drug trade in Asia. 8220;Their main leverage is economic: these border areas of Burma are by now economically much more connected to China than the rest of Burma,8221; he said. 8220;For local authorities it8217;s quite clear that, for any investments they want to attract, cooperation with China is a necessity.8221;

Insurgents have long used opium to help finance civil wars in the Golden Triangle. But some are now working to destroy the crop. At least one faction of the Shan State Army, a group that long had ties to the heroin business, says it is leading eradication efforts. Kon Jern, a military commander, says he is cracking down because government militias and corrupt officials profit from opium.

The UN credits Myanmar8217;s central government with leading the eradication effort in Shan areas. In Laos, the government began a crackdown in the 1990s to increase its international credibility and because officials realised their own children were at risk.

Yet experts warn that the reductions may not hold unless farmers develop other ways to make a living.