Prime Minister Nelson Oduber, explaining what Aruba has to offer to Chinese investors.
Let me count the ways of what Aruba has to offer China...Chinese drilling for oil and gas in Aruba territorial waters, Money laundering through banks, established drug transshipment system, officials with questionable integrity, Free Port Zone,...
It's for sure the shops on Aruba can't hold all the crap uhhh... goods brought by ship to Aruba, so the up-front legitimate business will be the "gateway of Chinese goods for Latin America.
While, underneath the facade:
China made record heroin seizures last year (2001)
Snip... China's Role in Narcotics Control
Given this subcommittee's interest in narcotics, let me elaborate on China's role in narcotics control in the region. China has a large and developed chemical industry, and, like the U.S., it is one of the world's largest producers of precursor chemicals, which have legitimate uses but are also used in the production of cocaine and synthetic drugs. In particular, China is the world's leading exporter of bulk ephedrine (used in cold medicines and weight-loss tablets) and a source country for much of the ephedrine and pseudoephedrine imported into Mexico. China notifies the DEA of shipments of precursor chemicals to the U.S. and Mexico so that tracking may be done to prevent diversion of these chemicals for illicit purposes. Nevertheless, some precursor chemicals are diverted from legal use to manufacture methamphetamine destined for the United States.
To regulate its chemical industry, China is a party to the 1988 U.N. Drug Convention and has regulations for record keeping and import/export controls on all chemicals included in the Convention. Several provinces have more stringent controls than called for in the Convention. In the State Department's International Narcotics Control Strategy Report we have noted, however, that China needs to improve its infrastructure to adequately monitor its large chemical production capacity and international trade in chemicals.
U.S. and Chinese cooperation in chemical control and counternarcotics is good and has been steadily improving. This was highlighted by a joint operation involving the DEA and several PRC law enforcement agencies in October 2004, leading to the world's largest seizure of the synthetic drug Mandrax (18 metric tons), and the seizure of 10 tons of pseudoephedine tablets (a key precursor for methamphetamine) in Los Angles in September 2004.
While China is a transit country for heroin produced in Southeast Asia to international markets, the DEA's Heroin Signature Program indicates less than one percent of heroin seized in the U.S. comes from Southeast Asia.
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All that is soon to change, when China and Aruba shake hands on their deal.
Then the heroin trade route will likely look like this: Southeast Asia to China to Aruba to Mexico to USA, IMO.
And, the bonus for China will be oil and gas (which China has a growing need for) from Aruba territorial waters.
Welcome, all, to the new Global Economy.