Romain Rouillard / Photo credit: RAO AIMIN / XINHUA / XINHUA VIA AFP
It was a particularly anticipated summit in international diplomatic spheres. This trip by Xi Jinping to San Francisco allowed the Chinese president and his American counterpart Joe Biden to renew a dialogue that had become very difficult and hampered by a mountain of disagreements.
Joe Biden also welcomed a “constructive and productive” summit which will lead to a resumption of high-level military communications, suspended for almost a year. Notable progress, but no concrete resolution of the sticking points between the two camps. Starting with the question of fentanyl, this synthetic drug, 50 times more powerful than heroin, directly responsible for 110,000 overdoses in the United States in 2022.
“China remains the main source of fentanyl”
Xi Jinping assured that China “[compatissait] deeply with the Americans, particularly young people, for the suffering that fentanyl has inflicted on them”. It must be said that the American authorities point the finger at Beijing’s responsibilities in these drug-related deaths. For the simple reason that the molecules used to manufacture fentanyl come from the Middle Kingdom.
“At present, China remains the primary source of fentanyl and fentanyl-related substances trafficked through international mail and express consignment operations, as well as the primary source of all substances linked to fentanyl being trafficked in the United States”, confirmed the DEA, the American anti-drug squad, in a 2020 report, since declassified. These components then travel to Mexico where they fall into the hands of drug traffickers attracted by this product, which is easier to produce than cocaine.
Last June, four Chinese companies were indicted for having sold chemicals essential for the production of fentanyl to Mexican cartels. “These companies and individuals would have knowingly provided drug traffickers in the United States and Mexico with the ingredients and scientific know-how necessary to manufacture fentanyl,” denounced Anne Milgram, administrator of the DEA. The anti-drug agency then seized more than 200 kg of chemical precursors, enough to manufacture 50 kg of fentanyl, we can read in an article in Washington Post.
Measures promised by Xi Jinping
The American authorities had already, in the past, sanctioned Chinese companies in this way for the same reasons, but without achieving real progress. Washington regularly accuses Beijing of turning a blind eye and not taking sufficient action to stop this opioid trafficking. Last June, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs firmly denounced “arbitrary detention” and “unilateral sanctions” which “profoundly undermine the establishment of anti-drug cooperation between China and the United States.”
This Wednesday, Xi Jinping was more cooperative and accepted, according to Washington, “a number of significant measures to considerably reduce supplies” of fentanyl components. An announcement which could offer a little respite to Joe Biden, campaigning for his re-election next year, and regularly criticized for his fight, considered insufficient, against drug trafficking.