【Text/Observer Network Li Li】
In recent years, the opioid "fentanyl" has surpassed heroin and become the first "life-threatening drug" in the United States. Chinese officials responded to the US government's request for help and vigorously cooperated with them to fight drugs, but the US government speculated that "China's manufacture of fentanyl precursors was processed by Mexico and imported into the United States" and other remarks to throw dirty water on the Chinese side.
Speaking of the fentanyl issue, Ambassador to the United States Qin Gang said in an interview with US media on September 29 that China has been vigorously carrying out international anti-drug law enforcement cooperation under the framework of the United Nations Drug Control Convention, which the international community has fully recognized and respected. However, some people in the United States claim that "China is the main source of in-the-US fentanyl-like substances" and "China imported a large amount of fentanyl into the United States" as "retaliation against the Opium War" and other groundless remarks and accusations.
In addition to being disappointed by the behavior of the US side, Qin Gang reminded the US side: "Mencius said: 'If you can't do something, you should seek your own self', which means that if you do not achieve the expected purpose and effect, first do not complain about the world and complain everywhere, but should look for reasons from yourself." Blaming China is not the solution to the U.S. Nephani crisis. ”
He stressed that on the issue of drug control, China has never been the creator of the US fentanyl crisis, but a partner with good intentions and sincerity.
Authorities inspect drugs containing fentanyl. Picture from Hong Kong's South China Morning Post
Sino-US anti-drug cooperation has a decades-long history of numerous achievements
Fentanyl, first designed and synthesized by Dr. Paul Janssen of Belgium in 1960, was introduced into European clinical practice as an analgesic in 1963, with 100 times the analgesic efficacy of morphine, and is widely used in severe chronic pain such as cancer pain and surgical anesthesia adjuncts. Because fentanyl-like substances can produce euphoria, they are often abused as drugs, their addiction and dependence are very strong, withdrawal is difficult, and high-dose use can also lead to coma, respiratory depression and even death. Criminals have used the derivative modification of the core chemical structure of fentanyl to synthesize many fentanyl-like drugs.
On September 27, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) announced that it had seized the equivalent of 36 million doses of fatal pills nationwide over the past three months. The DEA said fentanyl has become the "deadliest threat" to Americans. Since 1999, fentanyl, as an alternative to heroin, has been a significant cause of death among nearly one million Americans who have died from drug overdoses. The number of people dying from drug overdoses in the United States in 2021 has reached an all-time high of 107,600, with fentanyl attributed 66% of the deaths. Curbing the sale of fentanyl has become the agency's "most important" task.
The spread of drugs knows no borders, and China and the world are increasingly widely and closely linked, so how can they choose to be alone? In the face of the grim situation of the anti-narcotics work of the US side, the Chinese side has not stood idly by in recent years.
On September 29, Ambassador to the United States Qin Gang said in an exclusive interview with Newsweek on the fentanyl issue that in the 19th century, Britain smuggled opium to China, launched the Opium War, and coerced China to sign an unequal treaty that humiliated the country. Since then, the Western powers have invaded, China's mountains and rivers have been broken, and the Chinese have endured a hundred years of deep suffering, and they have not yet completely shaken off. The drug problem is a historical trauma and a pain in the skin of the Chinese nation. If you ask which country in the world hates drugs the most, it's China. Therefore, China has always held a zero-tolerance attitude towards drugs, adopting the strictest control and the most severe punishment, and for a long time, China's domestic drug problem has not been serious.
Qin Gang pointed out that due to China's extremely strict control of fentanyl-like substances, there has been no large-scale abuse of fentanyl-like substances in China, and no cases of death due to ingestion of fentanyl-like substances have been found. However, China is sympathetic to the fentanyl crisis raging in the United States and has been actively taking measures to help the United States cope with and resolve the fentanyl problem with its best efforts and goodwill.
"Sino-US anti-drug cooperation has a history of decades and has achieved many results." Qin Gang introduced that in recent years, the Chinese side has taken a number of practical measures to prevent fentanyl from flowing into the United States from China and fentanyl precursors into Mexico and other countries:
On May 1, 2019, China was the first in the world to officially list fentanyl-like substances in its entirety, while the United States has not yet formally listed fentanyl-like substances as a whole.
The Chinese side has also drafted three legal safeguard documents, including the filing and prosecution of fentanyl-like substance crimes, conviction and sentencing.
5 sub-centers of the National Drug Laboratory were built throughout the country to improve the fentanyl-like substance testing and monitoring system.
Find out the number of fentanyl-related enterprises, personnel, precursors and equipment in the country, and prevent the illegal and criminal activities of making and selling fentanyl-like substances from the source.
In the delivery industry, the three systems of "real-name receipt and delivery, receipt and mailing inspection, and machine security inspection" have been implemented to strengthen the inspection of cross-border parcels involving the United States.
Deploy and carry out special crackdown operations, strengthen investigation, interception and law enforcement crackdowns.
Since the entire category was listed, China has not found a single case of manufacture and trafficking or smuggling of fentanyl-like substances. According to the US Customs and Border Protection and other anti-drug law enforcement agencies, since September 2019, the US side has not seized fentanyl-like substances from China.
The groundless accusations made by the US side shocked the Chinese side
However, at a time when China and the United States have achieved phased results in anti-narcotics cooperation, what shocks the Chinese side is that the US side has actually "interfered" with China's anti-narcotics work.
Qin Gang said that precisely because it has been deeply harmed by drugs in history, China has always had deep sympathy and empathy for the anti-drug cause of the United States and other countries in the world, and has been vigorously carrying out international anti-drug law enforcement cooperation under the framework of the United Nations Anti-Narcotics Convention, which has been fully recognized and respected by the international community. But I also regret to see that some people in the United States claim that China is the main source of in-fentanyl-like substances in the United States. Recently, there are also media articles saying that "China imported a large amount of fentanyl into the United States", which is "retaliation against the Opium War"; "Precursor chemicals from China flooded North America, killing international efforts." These statements and accusations are completely misleading and unfounded.
Qin Gang also mentioned that in May 2020, the US side included important institutions such as the Forensic Identification Center of the Ministry of Public Security and the National Drug Laboratory responsible for the detection and control of fentanyl-like substances into the "Entity List" sanctions, which seriously affected and restricted China's ability to control drugs.
"Recently, some people in the United States have speculated about the false accusation that 'Chinese chemicals flow into Mexico to make fentanyl and then flow into the United States'. However, the fact is that the Chinese side has never received relevant data from Mexico on the export of Chinese precursor chemicals to Mexico for use in drug production, and the US side has never provided the basis for the fact that Chinese chemicals have flowed into Mexico to make fentanyl," Qin Gang stressed.
The US speculation that "Chinese-made fentanyl precursors were processed by Mexico and imported into the United States" began in August 2019, when some media claimed that "Mexico seized a batch of fentanyl substances from China". However, after the final verification and confirmation of the relevant departments of the United States and Mexico, the goods are not fentanyl, nor is it a precursor of fentanyl under management, but a common chemical raw material with a wide range of uses such as calcium chloride, which is not within the scope of the United Nations, the United States and China. The Mexican side has also never informed China of the seizure of the so-called "fentanyl precursor".
The facts are in front of us, US politicians selectively "blind" to the truth, and continue to hype up "China's manufacture of fentanyl precursors processed by Mexico and imported into the United States" and other remarks on the basis of rumors, and "throw the US drug control problem into the pot" of China.
A spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in the United States pointed out in September 2021 that despite China's great goodwill and sincerity, great efforts and sacrifices, individual US politicians and media continue to hype false content such as "American fentanyl mainly comes from China" and "Chinese fentanyl precursors flow into the United States through Mexico", which is completely irresponsible and contrary to objective facts.
It is worth noting that the United States also proposed that China should implement requirements such as control of unlisted chemicals and equipment, but these requirements are not in line with international law practice. Many non-listed chemicals and equipment have a wide range of legal uses, involving food, clothing, housing and transportation of ordinary Chinese people.
Qin Gang said, "The US side requires China to monitor the loss of unlisted chemicals and equipment in international trade. However, unlisted chemicals and equipment, like ordinary substances such as oil, iron and water, have a wide range of legal uses and are necessary to protect people's livelihood, and any company can produce, export and use it without reporting to the government. Just as steel can be used to make cars, it can also be used to make guns, and the international steel trade cannot be banned because of the ban on guns. ”
Qin Gang stressed that China conscientiously fulfills its obligations under the United Nations 1988 Convention, implements import and export licensing and international verification systems for all listed chemicals, and effectively prevents listed chemicals from flowing into drug production channels through international trade. With regard to the "know your customer" approach proposed by the United States, it goes far beyond the obligations of the United Nations Drug Control Convention to all countries. In accordance with international practice and common practice, it is also the legal obligation of the importing government to ensure that international goods are not used for illegal purposes by importing enterprises. Responsibilities that would otherwise be borne by the importing party should not be imposed on the exporting party. Moreover, the importer of international trade is overseas, and in the face of fast-moving international trade, the exporter does not have the conditions to verify customers. "Mexico is a sovereign country, and like any other country, China has no right and cannot perform its responsibilities on behalf of the Mexican government," Qin Gang said.
"Mencius said, 'If you can't do something, ask for yourself'"
On September 29, in response to the problem of fentanyl in the United States, Qin Gang gave advice, "Mencius said: 'If you can't do something, you should seek your own self', which means that if you don't achieve the expected purpose and effect of doing things, don't complain about others and complain everywhere, but should look for reasons from yourself." Blaming China is not the solution to the U.S. Nephani crisis. The United States should strengthen domestic anti-drug law enforcement, strictly control borders, strengthen the supervision of fentanyl-like drugs, severely crack down on the indiscriminate use of prescription drugs, and strengthen anti-drug education. At the same time, the United States should also promote the permanent listing of fentanyl-like substances as soon as possible. ”
Qin Gang stressed that on the issue of drug control, China has never been the creator of the US fentanyl crisis, but a partner with good intentions and sincerity. China will, as always, actively promote international anti-drug cooperation, actively participate in the co-governance of the global drug problem, and jointly address the global drug problem. It is hoped that the US side will take concrete actions to stabilize and improve Sino-US relations, lift the erroneous sanctions against relevant Chinese institutions as soon as possible, and clear the way for the two sides to better carry out law enforcement cooperation in the field of drug control.
"I hope that the United States will effectively resolve the fentanyl abuse crisis as soon as possible and the American people will get rid of the harm of drugs as soon as possible," Qin Gang said.
It is worth mentioning that in addition to throwing the pot in China, this group of people has also been criticized by American society. According to a poll by the well-known market research group Ipsos in early September, 39 percent of Americans and 60 percent of Republicans believe that "most of the fentanyl entering the United States is smuggled in by immigrants who cross the border illegally." ”
To this end, the Cato Institute in Washington, D.C., published a report entitled "Fentanyl is smuggled by Americans, not illegal immigrants" on September 14, saying that the "initiator" of the fentanyl problem in the United States is actually the United States itself. There are "omissions" in the anti-narcotics work of the relevant departments of the United States.
According to the report's analysis, it was the Americans themselves who financed the fentanyl smuggling. U.S. consumers pay retail distributors below drug wholesalers to get cash flow to Mexico and to pay for smugglers to bring the drugs back to the United States again.
Citing data from a paper on the website of the National Medical Library of the United States, titled "Socioeconomic Risk Factors for Opioid Overdose," the report said that about 99% of consumers in the United States who have fentanyl (or products containing fentanyl) are Americans. Statistics released on the U.S. Sentencing Board website show that 86.3 percent of those convicted of fentanyl drug trafficking in 2021 are Americans, 10 times higher than the number of immigrants convicted of this crime. In addition, U.S. Customs and Border Protection anti-drug statistics show that more than 90 percent of the locations where fentanyl is seized occur at legal border crossings or vehicle checkpoints, rather than on routes where illegal immigrants are predominant.
In summary, the report points out that there are omissions in the anti-drug work of the relevant departments of the United States, and "U.S. citizens who are legally transiting (subject to less scrutiny) are more convenient for smuggling drugs."
The report concludes by saying that tens of thousands of people die from fentanyl every year, which is terrible. But what is needed to reduce deaths is to find out why, not blame immigrant groups.
On September 27, photos of the victims of fentanyl were exhibited at the Fentanyl Memorial Hall, the headquarters of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Picture from Newsweek
According to Reuters reported on September 28, since the outbreak of the new crown epidemic in the United States, the death toll of opioids such as the associated powerful painkiller fentanyl has soared, exacerbating the already serious and costly "opioid crisis" that is already serious and widespread throughout the United States.
The latest report released by the US Congress shows that the United States will cause nearly $1.5 trillion in economic losses due to opioid abuse in 2020, and this number is likely to continue to increase.
According to the CDC, 107,000 people in the United States will die from drug overdoses in 2021, 75% of which are related to opioid addiction.