(although tbf I don’t know what poppy production is like in Xinjiang)
Historically it was hotbed of opium trade, but it got rooted out in the 50’s during the anti-drug campaigns in PRC. Heroin trade really does follow CIA meddling, since after Talibs rooted it out in Afghanistan it moved to Myanmar. So if US would succeed in separating Xinjiang from China undoubtedly it would become yet another drughole country.
Historically it was hotbed of opium trade, but it got rooted out in the 50’s during the anti-drug campaigns in PRC. Heroin trade really does follow CIA meddling, since after Talibs rooted it out in Afghanistan it moved to Myanmar. So if US would succeed in separating Xinjiang from China undoubtedly it would become yet another drughole country.