On Wednesday, Todd Robinson, Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, admitted that the United States has no evidence that the Chinese government deliberately encourages the shipment of fentanyl to its territory.
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Previously, a committee of the United States House of Representatives published a report arguing that China directly subsidizes the manufacturing and export of chemicals used to make fentanyl and other narcotics.
"We are aware of this report. We have no evidence that the Chinese government is deliberately directing the shipment of illicit drugs into the United States," Robinson said.
"In fact we know back in 2019, when asked to – when we asked the People's Republic of China to stop shipments of fentanyl directly to the United States, they did that. So that was a sign of their willingness to work with us on this issue," he added.
Since the precursor chemicals in the production of fentanyl are manufactured by China-based companies, the U.S. has requested the Chinese collaboration to address this matter.
"That’s the importance of this – the regeneration of this counter-narcotic working group, and we will continue to engage with the with the People's Republic of China on this very important issue," he pointed out.
Recently, the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs unanimously agreed to new control measures for 23 out of 28 substances that can be used to manufacture fentanyl and other synthetic drugs.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), fentanyl and other synthetic opioids are the drugs most frequently involved in overdose deaths in the United States, where more than 150 people die each day from opioid-related overdoses.