China responds to US demand for tighter fentanyl curbs with new rules to ban future variants of deadly opioid
- All derivatives of drug to be added to list of controlled substances in what China says is an ‘innovative’ contribution to the global war on drugs
- Beijing denies move is concession ahead of latest trade talks, which start later this week in Washington
China moved to tightened curbs on the painkiller fentanyl on Monday in response to repeated requests by the United States, which has blamed Chinese imports for fuelling the opioid crisis that has claimed thousands of lives.
Under the new curbs, all fentanyl-related substances will be added to a list of controlled substances starting May 1 – a measure intended to stop drug makers altering the chemical structure of the drug to get around the current regulations.
One policy specialist described the new policy as a “systemic innovation” by China that would help it target derivatives of the drug even before their invention, while a senior official said it was China’s contribution to the global war on drugs.
The announcement was made ahead of the latest round of talks aimed at ending the trade war between the two countries, which begin on Thursday, and fulfils a promise Chinese President Xi Jinping made to US President Donald Trump when they last met in Argentina in early December.
Trump has repeatedly accused China of not doing enough to halt imports of the drug, which the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention blamed for 18,000 fatal overdoses in 2016.