China takes action on key US fentanyl demands
BEIJING : China has taken a series of actions in the past week on counter-narcotics, in a sign of cooperation with US demands for stronger action on the synthetic opioid fentanyl, a key irritant in the bilateral relationship.
US President Donald Trump imposed 20% tariffs on Chinese imports in February over Beijing's alleged failure to curb the flow of precursor chemicals for fentanyl, which has caused nearly 450,000 US overdose deaths.
Those tariffs have remained in effect despite a fragile trade truce reached in Geneva in May.
Beijing has defended its drug control record and accused Washington of using fentanyl to 'blackmail' China.
Both sides were in a stalemate over the issue for months, despite China sending its vice public security minister to the Geneva talks.
China has balked at some of Washington's demands which include publicising the crackdown on precursors on the front page of the Communist Party mouthpiece People's Daily, educating Party members and tightening regulation of specific chemicals, among other actions.
Today, China's state security ministry accused a 'certain country' of 'deliberately launching unwarranted attacks on China over the fentanyl issue', in a veiled swipe at the US.
However, last Friday, Beijing added two precursors to a list of controlled chemicals starting July 20, according to a government statement.
The chemicals, 4-piperidone and 1-boc-4-piperidone, were 'considered fundamental to resolving the fentanyl issue,' raising hopes that the 20% tariffs could be eventually lifted, according to a source familiar with US government thinking.
The move came after US ambassador David Perdue had a rare meeting with China's public security minister Wang Xiaohong last Thursday in Beijing, at which Wang expressed willingness to work with Washington on drug control, according to a Chinese statement.
China's foreign ministry said the action on precursors was an 'independent measure' taken by Beijing in line with the UN Drug Convention and 'demonstrates China's attitude of actively participating in global drug governance'.
Working-level conversations on fentanyl remain ongoing and Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping discussed the topic in a June 5 phone call.
Chinese immigration officials seized 2.42 tons of drugs and arrested 262 suspects for drug smuggling so far this year, state media reported today, as Beijing vowed to crack down on drug trafficking and 'intensify anti-drug propaganda' in border areas and ports.
In addition, Chinese officials announced yesterday that they had prosecuted more than 1,300 people and arrested over 700 more nationwide for drug-related money laundering offences between January and May this year, a 2.1% year-on-year increase.
Beijing will 'cut off the criminal interest chain and destroy the economic foundation of drug crimes,' Miao Shengming, a senior official at the Supreme People's Procuratorate said during a press conference.
On Monday, a court in the southeastern province of Fujian handed a suspended death sentence to former drug control official Liu Yuejin for bribery, state media reported.
Liu, a former director of the public security ministry's narcotics control bureau, was convicted of illegally receiving bribes worth over ¥121 million (US$17 million) between 1992 and 2020.
The US Embassy in Beijing did not respond to a request for comment.
The Chinese government statements did not mention the US.
Chinese scholars acknowledge that fentanyl's central position in the US-China trade war comes with a lot of political baggage for Beijing.
'The US views the fentanyl issue as a sign of poor governance on China's part and has exerted pressure on China as a result, politicising the issue of drug control,' said Liu Weidong, a US-China expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
'This context is certain to influence China's approach to addressing the fentanyl issue,' Weidong said.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Star
2 minutes ago
- The Star
Scam alert: Trader loses over RM79,000 to bogus online prize draw
SIBU: A local trader lost over RM79,000 after being deceived by an offer of lucrative returns through an online prize draw scam earlier this month. Sibu district police chief ACP Zulkipli Suhaili said the victim, a man in his 50s, was first deceived while watching a live broadcast on Facebook promoting a gift box draw on Aug 7. The victim made a payment of RM499 to the provided account to participate in the activity, but did not win any prizes. After that, the victim received a call via the WhatsApp application from an international number. "The caller introduced himself as Mr. Teng from Shanghai, China, claiming to represent a gold company that was about to open a branch in Malaysia and would be holding a prize draw in the form of gift boxes containing cash in US dollars and the opportunity to become a business partner," he said in a statement on Friday (Aug 15). ACP Zulkipli said the victim agreed to buy 80 gift boxes and made payment to the account provided by the suspect. On Aug 12, the victim received a call from a woman named Miss Lee, who informed him that the gift box had been opened and that the victim had supposedly won US$288,888.88 (RM1,218,677.74) in cash, which would be transferred to his account on the same day. From Aug 7 to 13, the victim made 11 transactions totalling RM79,499 to two local accounts, but no money was received and the victim's WhatsApp messages were blocked. The victim became suspicious and filed a police report on Aug 14. ACP Zulkipli reminded the public to be cautious about participating in online prize draws whose authenticity cannot be verified to avoid becoming victims of fraud. Any advice or further information can be obtained from the National Scam Response Centre (NSRC) at 997 or the Facebook page @cybercrimealertrmp@jsjpdrm. Checking suspicious bank accounts and phone numbers can be done through the website — Bernama
The Sun
2 minutes ago
- The Sun
Oil falls ahead of Trump-Putin summit in Alaska
LONDON: Oil prices fell on Friday as traders awaited talks between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin, which some expect could lead to an easing of the sanctions imposed on Moscow over the Ukraine war. Brent crude futures fell 50 cents, or 0.8%, to $66.34 a barrel by 0923 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures declined 57 cents, or 0.9%, to $63.39. At Friday's meeting between Trump and Putin in Alaska, a ceasefire in the Ukraine is at the top of the agenda. Trump has said he believes Russia is prepared to end the war in Ukraine. However, he is also threatening to impose secondary sanctions on countries that buy Moscow's oil if the peace talks don't advance. 'The market is watching out for whether there is a ceasefire or not. An expectation of a ceasefire translates into more Russian production,' said Giovanni Staunovo, commodity analyst at UBS. 'The question is will there be escalation or de-escalation?' Even if there is a deal, it would likely take longer to ease sanctions on Russia because that would have to go through the U.S. Congress, Staunovo said. For the week, WTI is set to drop 0.7% while Brent is set to rise 0.4%. Also out on Friday was weaker economic data from China, which spurred worries about fuel demand. Chinese government data showed factory output growth slumped to an eight-month low and retail sales growth expanded at its slowest pace since December, weighing on sentiment despite stronger oil throughput in the world's second-largest crude user. Throughput at Chinese refineries rose 8.9% year-on-year in July, however, that was down from June levels, which were the highest since September 2023. Despite the increase, China's oil product exports last month were also up from a year ago, suggesting lower domestic fuel demand. Forecasts of a growing oil market surplus also weighed on sentiment, as did the prospect of higher-for-longer U.S. interest rates. Bank of America analysts said in a Thursday note they were widening their forecast for the oil market surplus, citing growing supplies from OPEC+, a group consisting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, Russia and other allies. The analysts now project an average surplus of 890,000 barrels per day from July 2025 through June 2026. That forecast follows predictions earlier this week from the International Energy Agency saying the oil market looks 'bloated' after the OPEC+ increases - REUTERS
The Sun
2 minutes ago
- The Sun
Trump administration weighing refugee cap of 40,000 with focus on white South Africans
WASHINGTON: U.S. President Donald Trump's administration is discussing a refugee admissions cap of around 40,000 for the coming year with a majority allocated to white South Africans, according to two U.S. officials briefed on the matter and an internal refugee program email, reflecting a major shift in the U.S. approach to refugees. Angie Salazar, the top refugee program official at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, told state-level refugee workers that she expected the cap to be 40,000, according to an email summary of an August 1 meeting reviewed by Reuters. The two officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said some 30,000 of the 40,000 spaces would be devoted to Afrikaners, a largely Dutch-descended minority in South Africa that Trump has prioritized for resettlement. Trump's focus on resettling Afrikaners could upend the precedent around the refugee program, which for decades had bipartisan support. The 40,000-person cap would be a sharp drop from the 100,000 refugees brought in by former President Joe Biden in fiscal year 2024, but higher than the record-low 15,000 person ceiling Trump set for fiscal 2021 before ending his first term. A separate person familiar with the matter said that in addition to the 40,000 figure, a cap as low as 12,000 had also been discussed. There are 37 million refugees worldwide, according to a United Nations estimate. Trump immediately froze refugee admissions after taking office in January, but weeks later launched a program for Afrikaners, saying the white minority group suffered racial discrimination and violence in majority-Black South Africa, claims that were rejected by South Africa's government. The Trump administration has wrestled internally over whether non-white South Africans could qualify for the refugee program, Reuters reported in July. In addition to Afrikaners, the Trump administration expects to bring in some Afghans who aided the U.S. government during the conflict in Afghanistan and is weighing whether to resettle Ukrainians, the email said. Some spaces would remain unallocated to potentially be filled by other nationalities, the email and officials said. White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly stressed that no decisions were final until Trump issued his determination for fiscal year 2026, which begins on October 1. 'President Trump has a humanitarian heart, which is why he has welcomed these courageous individuals to the United States,' Kelly said. 'Refugee admission caps will be determined next month, and any numbers discussed at this point are pure speculation.' A senior State Department official pointed to the department's recent human rights report, which raised concerns about 'inflammatory racial rhetoric against Afrikaners and other racial minorities' in South Africa. HHS referred questions related to the refugee cap to the White House. Salazar did not respond to requests for comment. The first group of 59 South Africans arrived in May, but only 34 more had come as of early August, a White House official said. The U.S. State Department laid off many refugee program staffers in major workforce reductions in July. To compensate for the fired staff, workers from HHS who normally deal with domestic refugee assistance have been reassigned to the South Africa program, one of the officials said. Thirteen HHS staffers were dispatched to Pretoria on Monday even though the majority had no direct experience screening refugees, the official said. An HHS spokesperson said that trained staff had been detailed to support refugee resettlement but that they were not conducting interviews to determine whether a refugee had experienced persecution. Initial struggles Some South Africans now in the U.S. with refugee status have reached out to HHS to raise concerns about a lack of benefits to support them, one of the U.S. officials said. Trump slashed refugee benefits after taking office, including reducing cash assistance and healthcare benefits that normally last a year to four months. One of the initial group of 59 South Africans brought into the U.S. in mid-May sent an email to HHS' refugee office two weeks later pleading for help getting a Social Security number and access to a work permit. The person, who went to Missoula, Montana, said their family had spent thousands of dollars to cover expenses. 'We have applied for jobs like crazy but to no avail because we found people here are not keen on hiring refugees without an SSN,' one of the family members wrote in a May 27 email to the HHS refugee program reviewed by Reuters. 'We have spent about $4000 on Uber, food, Cellphone SIM Cards which don't work.' The person was concerned the family would not be able to find housing after a government-funded hotel stay ended in early June. Reuters could not reach the family. The HHS spokesperson said the agency takes complaints seriously and that refugees placed in temporary housing receive support for essential needs, including food. A person familiar with the matter said some South Africans arrived in the U.S. expecting standard refugee benefits that had been paused or reduced by Trump - REUTERS
