Report: China pushing fentanyl crisis in US

China is fuelling the fentanyl crisis in the US by directly subsidising the manufacturing of materials that are used by traffickers to make the drug outside the country, according to a report released yesterday by a special US House committee focused on countering the Chinese Government.

Committee investigators said they accessed a government website that revealed tax rebates for the production of specific fentanyl precursors as well as other synthetic drugs as long as those companies sell them outside of China.

“Through its actions, as our report has revealed, the Chinese Communist Party is telling us that it wants more fentanyl entering our country,” said Representative Mike Gallagher, the Republican chairman of the special House committee. “It wants the chaos and devastation that has resulted from the epidemic.”

In November, US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping announced a resumption of bilateral co-operation on counternarcotics with a focus on reducing the flow of precursor chemicals and synthetic drug trafficking.

But the congressional report raises questions about whether China is following through.

The report’s findings were released yesterday as part of a hearing examining China’s role in the fentanyl epidemic in the US.

Most overdose deaths in the US continue to be linked to fentanyl and other synthetic opioids.

A Chinese official in a statement didn’t directly address the allegation of China subsidising the production of fentanyl precursors, but the official did list several steps the nation has taken to curb fentanyl production.