U.S. and China Reach ‘Groundbreaking’ Cooperation Agreement against Fentanyl

Oct. 1, 2019 (EIRNS)—White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) Director Jim Carroll told reporters on Sept. 25 in Beijing at the conclusion of his working visit to China, that his trip had been “groundbreaking,” with the two governments agreeing on measures that will ensure “full cooperation [and] full resources” for combatting illegal fentanyl trafficking together. That includes “routine conversations” and intelligence sharing on a higher level, sharing data to ensure rapid response to intelligence leads, and carrying out joint investigations.

Carroll, the Acting Commissioner for U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Mark Morgan, and Chief Postal Service Inspector Gary Barksdale had met with officials from China’s National Narcotics Control Commission and the Ministry of Public Security, talked with shipping industry leaders, and toured Chinese mail inspection and customs facilities, as well as a national narcotics laboratory, the ONDCP reported in a Sept. 27 statement.

Carroll told the reporters in Beijing that

“I am absolutely convinced the Chinese, starting with President Xi down through the Minister of Public Security Zhao (Kezhi), are absolutely committed to doing this.... [W]hat we learned on this trip is that the Chinese government, the Chinese people, are committed to this issue, both to save lives in the United States, but also to save lives in China.”

CBP chief Morgan reported that China is planning to build additional narcotics laboratories, and the U.S. will share data from its newly-developed pollen signature chemical tests that help identify the country origin of illegal fentanyl, a deadly synthetic opioid narcotic.

In an op-ed published in USA Today yesterday, China’s Ambassador to the U.S. Cui Tiankai wrote that China is committed to such cooperation, because “China’s own historical experience with opium being pushed upon our people by outsiders has made us very aware of the perils of such interference”—a clear reference to the Opium Wars waged on China by the British Empire in the 1800s.