Zhao Lijian Photo: VCG

 
Efforts and achievements of China's campaign to crack down on fentanyl trafficking have been witnessed by the international community and it shows China's responsibility in participating in the global drug governance, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Wednesday in response to a US report on fentanyl trafficking in the US. The new report says Mexico is now a dominant source of the country's fentanyl supply.

A new government report released by the federal Commission on Combating Synthetic Opioid Trafficking said from June 2020 to May 2021, fentanyl and synthetic opioids accounted for roughly two-thirds of the more than 100,000 deaths in the US from drug overdoses, the report found. It warned those opioids will take more lives if the US does nothing to change the scenario. 

It also said "Mexicans now are the primary suppliers of fentanyl, using chemical inputs from China and India to illegally manufacture fentanyl and traffic it into the US." 

Asked by a reporter at Wednesday's press brief, Zhao Lijian, a spokesperson of the Chinese foreign ministry, said the responsibility for preventing the flow of non-regulated chemicals into drug production rests with the importing country. As we all know, the US is a major country in the world in terms of chemical raw materials. On May 1, 2019, the Chinese government took the lead in scheduling fentanyl substances as a class but the US has not listed fentanyl so far. 

By obfuscating right and wrong, the US attempts to shirk its responsibility and blames non-regulated substances, which is highly irresponsible act for their citizens, Zhao noted. 

China strictly controls all kinds of narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances and their chemical precursors, with 31 kinds of precursor chemicals and one ephedrine substance listed under control, which exceeds the number listed by the UN and is all witnessed by the international community, Zhao noted. 

While the US media has acknowledged the achievements of the US in fentanyl crackdowns, it also suggested that a collaboration should be established between China and the US to monitor and report specific accounts that violate terms of service by advertising fentanyl precursors.

Li Haidong, a professor from the Institute of International Relations of China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times on Wednesday that the report implies the crackdown on fentanyl has become one of China-US joint projects with positive results. It benefits from China's achievement in listing fentanyl substances, Li said. 

Hua Zhendong, technical director of the National Narcotic Control Commission's National Narcotics Laboratory, said during an interview with the Global Times that fentanyl crisis has roots in the US itself and the opium problem stems from the abuse of prescription drugs.

If the US fails to address the massive opioid addiction in its own country, and the drug trafficking networks run by the Mexican cartels, then the enormous demand for illegal opioids will always exist, Hua noted.