To date, China's response to U.S. requests under the MOU have left something to be desired. In September in Beijing, delegations discussed development of a mutual legal assistance framework, and the Joint Liaison Group was convened to begin discussing areas of law-enforcement cooperation, including counternarcotics cooperation. China is a party to the 1988 UN Drug Convention, as well as the 1961 Single Convention and its 1972 Protocol, and the 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances. China is also a member of the Memorandum of Understanding with the UN Drug Control Program and five Southeast Asian nations under which the parties collaborate on drug control projects and programs. China has signed more than 30 mutual legal assistance and extradition treaties with 24 countries.
China produces limited quantities of opium, mostly for domestic consumption.
Chinese security officials have expressed concern about increasing numbers of synthetic drug production operations in China. China is a major producer of precursor chemicals that are used in the manufacture of illegal drugs. Chinese police monitor closely all precursor chemicals listed in the 1988 UN Drug Convention, particularly ephedrine and potassium permanganate. Yunnan officials announced a new initiative to make the province free of marijuana by the end of the century by helping growers, now devoting roughly 2000 hectares to marijuana, to cultivate alternative crops. China shares a 2000-kilometer border with Burma, and Chinese officials believe the majority of drugs enter China from Burma.