China and the United States are discussing strategies to end fentanyl production

China And USA They resumed talks on Tuesday stop production of ingredients used in the drug fentanylas they try to rebuild their broken communication channels.

US representatives hope that China will cooperate attacking the companies that produce the chemical precursors of fentanyl and cut off funding for its commercialization.

The synthetic opioid, several times more powerful than heroin, has a addiction epidemic in the United Statesof 100,000 deaths per year due to overdose until it became the leading cause of death among people aged 18 to 49, according to US authorities.

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The US delegation in Beijing is led by Deputy Homeland Security Advisor Jen Daskal and includes senior officials from the Departments of State, Treasury, Interior and Justice.

After being received by Chinese Minister of Public Security Wang Xiaohong, Daskal emphasized that “Synthetic drugs kill many thousands of people“, according to a video of the meeting.

“I came from Washington with a very high-level delegation that represents the entire U.S. government approach to addressing the global challenge of illicit drugs,” he added.

“President (Joe) Biden sent such an important delegation to emphasize the importance of this issue to the American people,” Daskal said.

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For his part, Wang noted that the establishment of a China-US Anti-Narcotics Working Group represents an “important common understanding” reached by the presidents. Xi Jinping and Biden at their meeting last November in San Francisco.

“Our cooperation once again shows that the China-US relationship benefits from cooperation and loses from confrontation,” Wang added.

Wang said he hopes that in future meetings the two sides will “take into account mutual concerns to improve and expand cooperation, so as to provide more positive energy for mutual cooperation.” stable, solid and lasting relations between China and the United States”.

The United States said it will “provide a platform to facilitate coordination aimed at attacking the illicit production, financing and distribution of illicit drugs.”

Xi Jinping promised to stop this trade during a meeting with Biden in November.

“For years, bilateral counter-narcotics cooperation between the United States and the People’s Republic of China has been suspended, hindering progress,” a senior US official said last week.

“But that changed during the November 15 meeting” between Xi and Biden, added the official, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity.

Since the summit, China has closed a business, blocked some international payments and resumed sharing information on shipping and traffic, the official added. (JO)