For years the United States has toed a precarious line with China. Our policy of economic interdependence has failed all but America's corporate elite. This detente of sorts has avoided military conflict, but it has emboldened the world's greatest antagonist to launch an indirect lethal attack on innocent Americans.

While U.S. efforts to combat the fentanyl crisis have largely focused on stopping the flow across our borders, and rightfully so, China continues to supply the key ingredients to manufacture this deadly drug to narco-traffickers — a back-door supply chain knowingly supported by the Chinese Communist Party.

U.S. policymakers should question how much our scaffolding of pacifism toward China can bear before it breaks, especially as the communist nation escalates its quiet war on our home front.

Chinese leaders have broadcast their intent to expand and impose their hegemonic world view. Their authoritarian system of governance is rooted in repression, subjugation and censorship — principles antithetical to democratic participation and free-market competition.

The United States has served to keep China's imperialist ambitions in check. But China's response has been to actively destabilize America at home while building an "axis of upheaval" abroad.

China's prolific contribution to the illicit drug trade continues to ravage America. A congressional report last year plainly states that China is the "ultimate geographic source of the fentanyl crisis," producing nearly all the key precursors that drive the fentanyl trade.

The report's findings are alarming. The CCP, it notes, subsidizes the manufacturing and export of fentanyl materials, provides grants to and holds ownership positions in companies openly trafficking these inputs, allows sales on its internet, and refuses to prosecute manufacturers.

In simple terms, China is abetting a drug crisis that is killing our citizens. About 200 Americans die from fentanyl poisoning every day. About seven in 10 drug overdose deaths are caused by illegally manufactured fentanyl, an overwhelming majority of which are caused by other drugs laced with the substance — making this poisoning, not just overdosing. Opioid overdoses, primarily from fentanyl, have been the leading cause of death for 18- to 45-year-olds for several years.

With among the harshest drug laws in the world, China doesn't tolerate domestic drug consumption or distribution. The government won't release statistics on executed drug dealers, but the numbers are among the highest in the world. Canadian authorities confirmed that four Canadians were executed for narcotics distribution by the Chinese government in 2025.

President Donald Trump has made great strides to stop the flow of illegal drugs into our country by securing our borders and getting tough on smugglers. But when the president announced that he had reached a deal with Chinese President Xi Jinping requiring that fentanyl manufacturers and distributors from China receive the death penalty, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman clarified the government's position saying that fentanyl is a U.S. problem, not China's.

China's efforts to further conceal the manufacturing pipeline threatens Western efforts to stop the illicit fentanyl trade a game of whack-a-mole: Where one bad actor is shut down, another will be furnished to step in. The CCP's determination to attack the vulnerable in American society won't change regardless of its empty promises to Trump.

China's tactics have escalated from adversarial one-upmanship to outright hostility. They are acts of war, and Congress needs to respond. The hard question is, how? China isn't afraid of short-term tariffs that fluctuate almost weekly. They also don't care about humanitarian pleas.

Supplying the Chinese people with direct access to the truth about the humanitarian crimes perpetrated by the CCP could motivate a serious crackdown on illicit fentanyl production.

Perhaps arming China's dissident Uyghurs with weapons and basic training would send a wakeup call.

I'm sure that the U.S. State Department spokesperson could remind the CCP that violent uprisings by China's oppressed minorities is a Chinese problem, not America's. What's clear is that the tyrants who lead China deal in the currency of military strength, and the United States still commands the advantage.

No one wants a military conflict, including China. But it is critical that we stop the assault on our home soil, even if that requires flexing our country's muscle.

Ken Buck served in the United States House of Representatives from 2015-2024 representing Colorado's 4th congressional district. He now serves as a Fellow with the Independent Center. To find out more about Ken Buck and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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