China is subsidising global fentanyl supply, says report by US congressional panel
- Despite an agreement in November to address the deadly drug, there is little evidence that China is committed to the effort, experts testify
- Calls for Congress to impose economic sanctions on Chinese companies and financial institutions involved in producing or financing the drug or its ingredients
China must be pressured to address the global supply of fentanyl and its ingredient chemicals, by further economic sanctions if necessary, which it is subsidising as the “scourge” kills more Americans annually than died during the Vietnam war, according to a report and congressional testimony on Tuesday.
While experts said an agreement to address the deadly drug hammered out between US President Joe Biden and President Xi Jinping at a summit in November was positive, there is little evidence that China is committed to the effort or that it is seeing much result, they told the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party.
“Simply put, without China’s production and export of fentanyl and fentanyl precursors, there would be no fentanyl crisis in the United States, and the mass slaughter would effectively stop,” said William Barr, who served as attorney general under president Donald Trump.
“I don’t think we can count on their goodwill as we have in the past,” said Barr, who negotiated an agreement with Beijing in 2019 that saw China add fentanyl to its list of controlled substances.
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Unravelling China’s role in the US fentanyl crisis
Barr and other witnesses called on Congress to impose economic sanctions on Chinese companies and financial institutions involved in producing or financing the drug or its ingredients, known as precursors. Barr also called on victims, including several in the hearing room, to bring civil lawsuits against companies and individuals involved in distributing the precursors and synthetic drugs.
