Chapter 1 begins with a discussion of President Joe Biden’s November 2022 meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Bali, Indonesia. Schweizer accuses Biden of not including the fentanyl crisis on the discussion agenda. Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid largely produced using Chinese precursor chemicals. Schweizer claims that fentanyl is not just a drug epidemic but part of China’s larger strategy of warfare against the US, where unconventional methods—such as drug trafficking—are used to undermine the US without open conflict. Fentanyl, now the leading cause of death for Americans under 45, is described as a weapon of mass destruction deployed by China to create chaos and social instability.

Schweizer sketches China’s involvement in the fentanyl crisis, which allegedly involves producing precursor chemicals and facilitating its smuggling into the US. He draws parallels to the 19th-century Opium Wars, suggesting that Beijing is retaliating for historical grievances by using fentanyl as a modern weapon. Schweizer argues that, starting in the early 1950s, the CCP deliberately exported heroin to Japan and later to the US, thus seeking to weaponize narcotics and weaken enemy nations. As evidence, Schweizer cites the admission of Chinese leaders, such as Chou En-lai, to using heroin during the Vietnam War to undermine US troops’ morale.