https://sputnikglobe.com/20230624/us-blames-beijing-for-fentanyl-crisis-charges-chinese-chemical-companies-1111448284.html
US Blames Beijing for Fentanyl Crisis, Charges Chinese Chemical Companies
US Blames Beijing for Fentanyl Crisis, Charges Chinese Chemical Companies
Sputnik International
Opioid overdoses kill over 130 Americans daily, with drug ODs claiming more than 110,000 lives in 2022 alone. OD rates have spiked over than 250% over the past two decades due to fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid painkiller
2023-06-24T19:45+0000
2023-06-24T19:45+0000
2023-06-24T19:45+0000
americas
andres manuel lopez obrador
joe biden
china
mexico
department of justice
treasury
white house
fentanyl
drug trade
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The Department of Justice has announced criminal charges against four China-based chemical companies and eight Chinese nationals, alleging their involvement in the large-scale trafficking of precursors used to make fentanyl.The department said its investigations had led to the seizure of over 200 kilograms of fentanyl-related precursors, enough to create enough lethal doses to kill some 25 million Americans.China RespondsThe charges, which come on the heels of Treasury sanctions on China and Mexico-based companies and individuals alleged to be “directly or indirectly involved” in the fentanyl trade in late May, were slammed by Beijing, which accused the DoJ of illegally “ensnaring” Chinese nationals in a sting operation in a third country.“This is typical arbitrary detention and unilateral sanction, which is completely illegal. It seriously harms the basic human rights of the Chinese nationals and the interests of the Chinese companies concerned. China strongly condemns this move and has lodged serious demarches and strong protest to the US side,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement.The ministry stressed that Beijing is “an active participant in international counter-narcotics cooperation,” and pointed out that the PRC was the first country in the world to schedule fentanyl as an illegal drug, banning its production, and the production of related substances, in 2019.“Instead of giving China the credit for its contribution, the US imposed illegal sanctions on Chinese counter-narcotics institutions and then openly slandered China’s counter-narcotics efforts and illegally sanctioned Chinese companies. The US has now gone even further by ensnaring and indicting Chinese nationals. Such long-arm jurisdiction and [bullying] that tramples on international law has further undermined the lawful rights and interests of relevant Chinese institutions and nationals, and seriously undercut the foundation for China-US cooperation on counter-narcotics,” Beijing said.China emphasized that Washington’s attempts to blame Beijing for America’s drug crisis is an unacceptable attempt at “scapegoating” which “will not work and benefits no one.”Lack of LoveAlong with China, Washington has regularly blamed Mexico for the US’s fentanyl crisis. Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador dismissed these allegations in March, citing the “disintegration” of American families, “individualism,…a lack of love, of brotherhood, of hugs and embraces” as a factor in America’s drug crisis. Obrador also offered a solution to the problem: prohibiting the use of fentanyl in medicine – a proposal unlikely to be acceptable to the US’s powerful pharmaceutical industry lobby.US law enforcement says the vast majority of the illegal fentanyl distributed across the United States is produced in Mexico by gangs and smuggled into the country via the southern border.Drug smuggling across the Mexico-US frontier has increased by thousands of percentage points over the past two years, with Republicans broadly blaming President Biden’s lax border policy. The White House has denied these claims, and accused the GOP of “fighting to put fentanyl on the street.”
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united states, china, fentanyl, allegations, response, manufacturing, precursor, chemical, opioid, opioid crisis, fentanyl death in the us, who caused opioid crisis, is china behind opioid crisis
united states, china, fentanyl, allegations, response, manufacturing, precursor, chemical, opioid, opioid crisis, fentanyl death in the us, who caused opioid crisis, is china behind opioid crisis
US Blames Beijing for Fentanyl Crisis, Charges Chinese Chemical Companies
Opioid overdoses kill over 130 Americans daily, with drug ODs claiming more than 110,000 lives in 2022 alone. OD rates have spiked over than 250 percent over the past two decades thanks to the growing availability of fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid painkiller 50 and 100 times more potent than heroin and morphine, respectively.
The Department of Justice has announced criminal charges against four China-based chemical companies and eight Chinese nationals, alleging their involvement in the large-scale trafficking of precursors used to make fentanyl.
“These indictments represent the first prosecutions to charge China-based chemical manufacturing companies and nationals of the People’s Republic of China for trafficking fentanyl precursor chemicals into the United States. Specifically, the indictments allege the defendants knowingly manufactured, marketed, sold, and supplied precursor chemicals for fentanyl production in the United States in violation of federal law,” the DoJ
said in a press statement.
The department said its investigations had led to the seizure of over 200 kilograms of fentanyl-related precursors, enough to create enough lethal doses to kill some 25 million Americans.
The charges, which come on the heels of
Treasury sanctions on China and Mexico-based companies and individuals alleged to be “directly or indirectly involved” in the fentanyl trade in late May, were slammed by Beijing, which accused the DoJ of illegally “ensnaring” Chinese nationals in a sting operation in a third country.
“This is typical arbitrary detention and unilateral sanction, which is completely illegal. It seriously harms the basic human rights of the Chinese nationals and the interests of the Chinese companies concerned. China strongly condemns this move and has lodged serious demarches and strong protest to the US side,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry
said in a statement.
The ministry stressed that Beijing is “an active participant in international counter-narcotics cooperation,” and pointed out that the PRC was the first country in the world to schedule fentanyl as an illegal drug, banning its production, and the production of related substances, in 2019.
“Instead of giving China the credit for its contribution, the US imposed illegal sanctions on Chinese counter-narcotics institutions and then openly slandered China’s counter-narcotics efforts and illegally sanctioned Chinese companies. The US has now gone even further by ensnaring and indicting Chinese nationals. Such long-arm jurisdiction and [bullying] that tramples on international law has further undermined the lawful rights and interests of relevant Chinese institutions and nationals, and seriously undercut the foundation for China-US cooperation on counter-narcotics,” Beijing said.
China emphasized that Washington’s attempts to blame Beijing for America’s drug crisis is an unacceptable attempt at “scapegoating” which “will not work and benefits no one.”
The Foreign Ministry encouraged the US to “stop shifting the blame, stop smearing and attacking China, immediately lift all sanctions on Chinese counter-narcotics law enforcement institutions, stop using fentanyl-related issues as a pretext to sanction, indict or offer awards to hunt Chinese companies or nationals, stop arbitrary detentions, and immediately release the Chinese nationals under illegal arrest.”
Along with China, Washington has regularly
blamed Mexico for the US’s fentanyl crisis. Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador
dismissed these allegations in March, citing the “disintegration” of American families, “individualism,…a lack of love, of brotherhood, of hugs and embraces” as a factor in America’s drug crisis. Obrador also offered a solution to the problem: prohibiting the use of fentanyl in medicine – a proposal unlikely to be acceptable to the US’s powerful pharmaceutical industry lobby.
US law enforcement says the vast majority of the illegal fentanyl distributed across the United States is produced in Mexico by gangs and smuggled into the country via the southern border.
Drug smuggling across the Mexico-US frontier has increased by thousands of percentage points over the past two years, with Republicans broadly blaming President Biden’s lax border policy. The White House has denied these claims, and
accused the GOP of “fighting to put fentanyl on the street.”
