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US-China relations
ChinaDiplomacy

China rejects blame for sharp rise in US fentanyl overdoses

  • Chinese embassy in Washington blasts congressional report finding that Beijing has failed to stop synthetic opioid reaching US
  • Report’s claim that China is sending raw materials for the drug to Mexico is ‘irresponsible and utterly false’

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Fentanyl was involved in a record 93,000 US drug overdoses in the past year, according to a report. Photo: Reuters
Robert Delaney
China denied accusations by a US congressional body that Beijing has failed to live up to a commitment to help stop the flow of the deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl into the US, and turned the blame for a sharp rise in overdoses on Washington itself.
“Some American politicians and media are still hyping up such disinformation as ‘American fentanyl mainly origins from China’, ‘Chinese fentanyl precursors flow into the United States via Mexico’,” the Chinese embassy in Washington said on Friday, referring to a report last week by the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC).

The report said China is sending raw materials to Mexico, where cartels manufacture them into fentanyl and deliver them into the US.

“These assertions are highly irresponsible and utterly false. Up to now, China has not found any scheduled precursor chemicals trafficked to Mexico, or received any notification from the Mexican side about seizing scheduled chemicals originating from China,” the embassy said.

“Such made-up allegations show zero sense of responsibility towards American fentanyl abuse victims and their families, and seriously mislead the Chinese and American people.”

Commitments by the Chinese government on the trade of fentanyl and precursor substances in 2018 were one of the few areas where former president Donald Trump’s administration and Beijing managed to cooperate. Within months, China moved to add all fentanyl-related substances to a list of controlled substances, a measure intended to stop drug makers altering the chemical structure of the drug to get around the current regulations.

However, fentanyl-related deaths have only increased since then. The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported in July a record 93,000 drug overdoses in the country last year, with fentanyl and its analogues accounting for most cases.

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