BEIJING, China (Reuters) — China’s drug control agency said on Friday (November 3) there was not enough evidence to suggest that most of the fentanyl and other substances at the heart of the opioid crisis in the United States originated from China.
Declaring the opioid crisis a public health emergency last week, U.S. President Donald Trump said he would discuss as a “top priority” stopping what he described as a “flood of cheap and deadly fentanyl” made in China when he meets President Xi Jinping during his state visit to Beijing next week.
But at a joint news briefing with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in Beijing, Wei Xiaojun, deputy head of China’s Narcotic Control Commission, said that there wasn’t enough evidence to suggest that most of the shipments come from China.
At the same news conference, Lance Ho, chief liaison for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency’s Beijing office, praised cooperation between U.S.-Chinese authorities, adding that when China controls a substance, it “saves lives” in the U.S.
Wei also said it was regrettable the US announced the indictment of two Chinese fentanyl traffickers during a news conference.
The U.S. Department of Justice announced in mid October that authorities believe the two remain in China.