Passing the buck on fentanyl aimed at leverage

Washington is passing the buck for its domestic drug woes to China and creating a new issue in Sino-US relations that it can manipulate to put pressure on Beijing by charging four China-based companies and eight Chinese nationals for allegedly supplying chemicals required for the production of fentanyl in the United States.

The announcement by the US Justice Department on Friday came just four days after US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke positively about his first trip to China and the talks he had with his Chinese hosts, saying the exchanges would help the two sides defuse risks in bilateral ties, avoid miscalculation and prompt the two sides to handle their relations responsibly. How to properly handle the so-called fentanyl issue was high on Blinken's agenda for the visit.

He will have known that China is the first country in the world to regulate the entire class of fentanyl substances, and that it has played an important role in preventing the illegal manufacture, trafficking and abuse of the drug. In December 2018, China and the US agreed to take positive actions to strengthen cooperation in law enforcement and drug control, including the control of fentanyl-like substances. And on May 1, 2019, China added fentanyl-related substances to the Supplementary List of Controlled Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances with Non-medical Use.