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. The Chinese Government provided crucial support for a UN-sponsored program to provide farmers in Burma, as well as in Laos, with seeds, fertilizer, and reliable markets for their produce in an effort to encourage them to switch from cultivating opium to producing cash crops and food grains. The program has resulted in significant decreases of poppy crop production in the project areas.