Unacknowledged crackdown
US ignores unprecedented effort and strong cooperation from China to control illegal export of drug fentanyl
In response to a drug crisis in foreign countries, China has modified and sped up its procedures for deeming new recreational drugs illegal
China’s drug control efforts have won recognition from many countries, including on-the-ground US officials
US justice department fails to mention China’s efforts in synthetic drug control, and its success due to China’s cooperation
The Western world has had a prejudice against China’s development achievements for a long time, including China’s efforts in drug control in the international community, despite the fact that China’s drug control efforts have won recognition from many other countries.
Yu Haibin, a senior official with the office of the China National Narcotics Control Commission (NNCC) and the Chinese Ministry of Public Security’s Narcotics Control Bureau, explained to the Global Times the efforts and achievements China has made in fulfilling its international responsibility of fighting against illegal drugs.
‘Historic new steps’
Attorney General Jeff Sessions of the US released a 43-count indictment on August 22 against two Chinese citizens, 35-year-old Zheng Fujing and his father Zheng Guanghua, at a news conference in Cleveland. The Chinese father and son resided in Shanghai and were alleged by Sessions to have distributed more than 250 types of synthetic opioids, manufactured in China, to 37 US states, including Ohio, according to the website of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.
The indictment also attributed the overdose deaths of two Ohio residents to the drugs sold by the Chinese father and son. Two days before Sessions announced the indictment, US President Donald Trump tweeted that fentanyl from China is destroying the US.
Sessions described the action as a “historic new step.”
“Fentanyl and its analogues are the number one killer drug in America today, and mostly come from China,” said Sessions, adding, “That’s why the Department of Justice under President Donald Trump has taken historic new steps against the threat of Chinese fentanyl.”
“Today we are announcing an indictment of the leaders of the Zheng drug trafficking organization based in China. By cutting off fentanyl and its analogues at the source, we can save American lives,” said Sessions.
Yu told the Global Times that China will not meddle in the US domestic affairs of filing charges against foreign citizens according to its laws. However, China will protect its citizens’ legitimate rights and safeguard them to be free from illegal criminal liability and unfair treatment.
China will pay close attention to the further progress of the case and is willing to provide assistance according to the law. “But China hopes the US side will notify the Chinese side in advance of important actions in the future, so that both sides can move in lockstep with each other. Only in that way can we build a solid foundation and foster a sound environment for the future China-US cooperation,” said Yu.
Yu told the Global Times that Zheng’s case is a joint investigation by China and the US, in which China has made tremendous efforts including actively cooperating in actions conducted by the US side, providing aid to the US investigation and sharing information with the US in a timely manner, and China’s efforts have won recognition and acclaim from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) of the US and its relevant law enforcement departments.
However, in China, an indictment should be made according to the Chinese law and evidence. The US side failed to provide China any evidence to prove Zheng violated Chinese law, and the US knows clearly about that, Yu told the Global Times. The US unilateral prosecution against Zheng and his father has caused a big problem for the joint investigation of the two sides, and China regrets this, Yu said.
This is not the first time that the US side took proactive action unilaterally without notifying China during a joint investigation. A year ago, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) charged two Chinese nationals, 40-year-old Yan Xiaobing and 38-year-old Zhang Jian, with selling fentanyl to Americans, the Washington Post reported on October 17, 2017.
Similarly, the US DOJ never mentioned its Chinese counterparts’ efforts in prohibiting new psychoactive substances (NPS), let alone the achievements it made with China’s cooperation.
The US president and the DOJ neglected to mention that the Chinese government has taken an unprecedented effort in fentanyl control considering concerns from the international community, especially the US, even though fentanyl abuse is not a problem in China.
China has rolled out joint investigations with the US on several cases such as the Sun Lidi case in 2016. In Sun’s case, China helped the US solve about 10 deaths due to fentanyl overdose. Currently, more than 10 cases are jointly under investigation by the two countries.
Yu told the Global Times that merely a dozen of clues the US provided to China are involved with international parcels since 2017. China does not deny that some of the fentanyl circulating in the US might come from China, but it is biased and groundless to jump to the conclusion that most of the US fentanyl is shipped from China.
China’s unprecedented efforts
In contrast to the blame cast by the US, China’s control over domestic NPS production is in a leading position worldwide.
NPS is a term rather unfamiliar to the Chinese public. However, it is quite popular in Western countries. Dubbed as the third generation of drugs following traditional and synthetic drugs, NPS are generated through chemical-structural modification on controlled drugs by drug dealers in order to avoid inspections. This makes the drug easy to hide