|
 U.S. President Donald Trump has criticized China for allowing
fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, to be shipped from China to the United
States, which faces an epidemic of opioid-related deaths.
Fentanyl has been tied to already tense bilateral relations, with
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer saying he hopes to
include China's commitments to curb the drug in any agreement to end
the two countries' bitter trade war.
China's addition of fentanyl-related substances to the supplementary
list of controlled narcotic drugs will take effect on May 1, the
Ministry of Public Security, the National Health Commission and the
National Medical Products Administration said in a joint statement.
Fentanyl itself and its "analogues" had previously been listed and
remain controlled, the statement said.
"Resolved. All resolved," Liu Yuejin, a senior public security
ministry official and vice commissioner of the China National
Narcotics Control Commission, told reporters following a briefing,
when asked if U.S. concerns had been fixed.
But Liu said the amount of fentanyl from China going to the United
States was "extremely limited" and that U.S. criticisms of China
being the main source of the drug "lack evidence".
"We believe that the United States itself is the main factor in the
abuse of fentanyl there," Liu said, adding that American culture was
partly to blame.
He said the United States had a long tradition of abusing
prescription medicines and that enforcement and education about the
dangers were not good enough.
[to top of second column] |
"Some people link drug consumption with freedom, individuality, and
liberation," Liu said. "If the United States truly wants to resolve
its fentanyl abuse problem, it needs to strengthen its domestic
work."
Chinese officials in the past year have vowed to step up cooperation
with Washington on illegal drug production and sales, referring to
it as a bright spot in relations.
The White House said after a December meeting between Trump and
Chinese President Xi Jinping in Argentina to deescalate trade
frictions that Xi had agreed to designate fentanyl as a controlled
substance.
Trump has called on China to apply the death penalty for
"distributors and pushers" of the synthetic opioid.
The volume of drugs coming into the United States through the mail
has grown in step with legitimate online shopping, U.S. customs
agents say, as Americans have taken to ordering drugs from overseas
via the dark web.
A U.S. congressional probe into the use of fentanyl in the United
States found in 2018 that the substance could easily be bought
online from Chinese "labs" and mailed to the United States due to
gaps in oversight in the U.S. Postal Service.
Such imports of prescription medicines and controlled substances are
illegal, and China has become the main source of fentanyl in the
United States, the U.S. Department of Justice says.
(Reporting by Michael Martina; Editing by Nick Macfie)
[© 2019 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2019 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content. |
