Opium wars fought between Britain and China in the 19th century, are among the best-known and most studied conflicts in history. The first Opium War was between 1839-42. The second one lasted from 1856 to 1860.
For those whose memories need jogging, opium wars were about trade in bhang. British forces fought to force China to legalise opium trade, to expand coolie trade, to open all of China to British merchants, and to exempt foreign imports from internal transit duties.
I am afraid, the push for genetically modified foods in Africa exhibits all the characteristics of the opium wars.
China had then enacted and strictly enforced laws to protect her citizens from abuse of the drug and outlaw its trade. The British accused Beijing (the called Peking) of being anti-trade.
They fought for the liberalisation of opium trade at the Port of Canton (now Guangzhou). By 1838, the British were selling roughly 1,400 tonnes of opium per year to China.
Legalisation of the opium trade was the subject of ongoing debate within the Chinese administration, but it was repeatedly rejected, and as of 1838, the government sentenced native drug traffickers to death.
In 1839, the Daoguang Emperor appointed scholar-official Lin Zexu to the post of Special Imperial Commissioner, with the task of eradicating the opium trade.
