Posted on 08/04/2019 5:50:16 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Chinese state media has hit back at US President Donald Trump’s accusation that China had failed to stop the sale of painkiller fentanyl to America, saying Beijing had done its part and the US “only has itself to blame” for the opioid crisis.
In a commentary on Sunday, state news agency Xinhua rejected Trump’s claim in a tweet last week, calling it “blatant slander”.
“China has made unprecedented efforts in addressing the fentanyl issue, in terms of issuing laws and regulations, conducting an overall market inspection and stepping up police investigations,” the commentary read.
“Chinese law enforcement has uncovered cases of illegal processing or trafficking of fentanyl-like substances to the United States, but the number [of such cases] is very small – it is impossible for China to be a major source of fentanyl-like substances in the United States.”
It said four cases of fentanyl being trafficked from China to the US had been reported in the second quarter of the year by the US customs authority, citing US Drug Enforcement Administration data.
According to the commentary, that indicated the “flow of fentanyl-like substances to the United States from China, which was already low, has significantly declined”.
On Thursday, a day after the latest round of US-China trade talks wrapped up in Shanghai, Trump tweeted that Washington would impose a new 10 per cent tariff on US$300 billion worth of Chinese goods from September 1. He said China had “agreed to buy agricultural product from the US in large quantities, but did not do so”. In another tweet, he said: “Additionally, my friend President Xi [Jinping] said that he would stop the sale of fentanyl to the United States – this never happened, and many Americans continue to die.”
The state media offensive came after senior officials in Beijing also dismissed Trump’s accusation. Liu Yuejin, deputy director of the National Narcotics Control Commission, told state broadcaster CCTV on Saturday that “in fact, compared to the US controls on fentanyl ingredients, our country has much stricter rules”.
China introduced tightened curbs on fentanyl-related substances on May 1 aimed at stopping illegal production and sale of the drugs, after repeated requests from Washington to include such a measure in a trade deal. But the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy was sceptical about whether it would be effective. After Trump’s comments on Thursday, it said the administration had not “directly seen any large-scale seizures or law enforcement action by the Chinese on fentanyl”. “We’ll continue to press China to follow through on the promise they made to keep fentanyl out of our communities,” it said.
Some US officials and experts have said any crackdown would depend on progress in resolving the trade war. Derek Scissors, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute think tank, said that scepticism was well placed.
“What the Chinese have effectively said is we should forget what they said just a few months ago. If they don’t like the trade situation, the fentanyl and related products will continue to flow,” he said.
Fentanyl is an opioid painkiller 50 times more potent than heroin, and has a central role in the devastating US opioid crisis. In the US, fentanyl and all of its analogues are controlled substances subject to strict regulation. More than 28,000 synthetic opioid-related overdose deaths, mostly from fentanyl-related substances, were recorded in 2017, according to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
Does this mean the ChiComs have stopped blaming the UK and France for the Opium Wars?
Can’t totally disagree with this. No sense blaming OUR drug problem on China. We’ve never been able to solve it here, until we do, there will be a supplier somewhere.
Many years ago when the US was going through the motions (at least in public) of fighting the “War on Drugs” they spoke to Latin American representatives about dealing with their drug problem; they politely responded that the upheavals in their countries were caused by AMERICANS’ drug problems - and they were right.
A big problem with legalizing drugs, which is very obvious with alcohol, is the root of the reason WHY people take them. A sober/clean person will work on solutions, while the buzzed/stoned person simply retreats - and nothing gets done/fixed. Maybe a sweeping generalization, but definitely a lot of truth in it.
Pot (like alcohol) isn’t a “gateway drug” because a physical addiction leads to stronger stuff; it is a gateway drug because the causes that lead people to use it will generally lead them to something stronger.
We can’t fix the war on drugs because of the war on drugs bonanza.
I agree with you. Blaming China for our “opioid crisis” is like an alcoholic blaming Budweiser for his drinking problem.
Fentanyl is not coke. It is a synthetic drug and might be produced anywhere.
“What the Chinese have effectively said is we should forget what they said just a few months ago. If they don’t like the trade situation, the fentanyl and related products will continue to flow,” he said.
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Needs to be repeated.
A lot.
Every regular user of recreational pharmaceuticals I’ve ever met was a Democrat. Maybe except one.
Getting rid of the drug problem in the US is easy, get rid of Democrats
Or guns for gun crime. But the modern trend is to always go after the substance, never the criminal who abuses it.
Chicoms have a point. We have become a popultion of self indulgent weaklings whose problems are medicated instead of confronted. The opioid crisis is Darwinism via another path.
That's true.
A nation that can put a man on the moon, end polio epidemics, and save Europe from suicide cannot prevent drug pushers from preying on its children in their grammar schools?
Of course that's ridiculous.
It's a lack of will. It's part of the decadence of Western Civilization, the fundamental evil of which is contempt for TRUTH--TRUTH for its own sake.
And the fact that the American People are responsible for their own opioid crisis is the truth.
There is NO excuse for it.
100% tariff tomorrow. Bastards.
This is a spiritual issue. Remove God from your society and something will fill that void. Drugs, sex, food, violence, really bad music, etc..
The Chinese are just supplying a demand. Just like they supply practically everything else.
Chinese culture is very long-sighted... and very petulant and vindictive. The CCP usually reacts to slights in the exact same way that a grumpy 9 year old girl would. I would say that their reactions to these accusations are very much linked to their memories of the Western World forcing the Opium Wars and all of the related problems that they caused... but they would never say that.
This recent flood of Chinese fentanyl is a deliberate attempt by the communist to destabilize our society.
Just another tool by intelligence agencies across the globe.
Yes. We didn't bomb the fentanyl factoriess in China already.
See?
They think it’s JUSTICE.
They think it’s PAYBACK for the old Opium Wars of old.
Their primary aim is money, but make no mistake about it, there is also the power of Victimhood Ideology behind this.
RE: They think it’s PAYBACK for the old Opium Wars of old.’
I don’t think so. If they want payback for the Opium Wars, then they should be targeting the Brits, not us.
It’s time for all Americans to sober up from all drugs and alcohol and become alert and aware like never before. With foreign enemies like China, Russia, islamic countries, and south American countries secretly aligning against us, along with tyrannical supernatural forces.. we are going to need every man, woman, and child, to rise to the occasion and UNITE and defend AMERICA. We don’t have time for drugs, alcohol, and domestic drama bull. This should excite Americans. To be living in times when the whole world led by the devil is coming to try and defeat you and your freedoms and what an opportunity to prove your worth to God.
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