In the first half of the nineteenth century Britain took the lead in suppressing the Trans-Atlantic slave trade and trying to replace the slave trade with “legitimate trade.” In the same period, Britain waged war against China (the Opium Wars) to force the Chinese to open their market to the import of opium. How do you explain these seemingly contradictory policies regarding human trafficking and drug trafficking?

In the first half of the nineteenth century Britain took the lead in suppressing the Trans-Atlantic slave trade and trying to replace the slave trade with “legitimate trade.” In the same period, Britain waged war against China (the Opium Wars) to force the Chinese to open their market to the import of opium. How do you explain these seemingly contradictory policies regarding human trafficking and drug trafficking?