China restricts fentanyl chemicals after years of US pressure
Summary
The progress on a diplomatic sticking point between the two countries suggests Beijing is eager to smooth ties ahead of November election.BEIJING—China is imposing new restrictions on chemicals used in the production of fentanyl, a move long sought by the U.S. that signals Beijing’s desire to keep open an important diplomatic channel with Washington ahead of November’s presidential election.
The status of the chemicals has proven a diplomatic sticking point for the past two and half years, and the latest move marks a small step forward in the Biden administration’s strategy of seeking cooperation with China on counternarcotics even as the countries’ relationship is increasingly defined by competition.
China is one of the biggest sources of the chemicals used to produce fentanyl, which are sold to cartels in Mexico that make the highly potent narcotic and traffic it into the U.S. Nearly 75,000 people in the U.S. are estimated to have died last year from synthetic opioids such as fentanyl, representing the vast majority of all overdose deaths in the country.
Beginning Sept. 1, Chinese authorities will impose stricter oversight over the production and sale of three such chemicals, including requiring exporters to obtain a license, according to a government notice posted online Monday. The chemicals—known as 4-AP, 1-boc-4-AP and norfentanyl—were blacklisted by the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs in March 2022, requiring China to take corresponding steps domestically.
Beijing’s reluctance to do so was viewed by many counternarcotics experts as the Chinese government exerting a point of leverage over the U.S. as bilateral relations soured. The situation only began to improve after a summit in California last November, during which President Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping agreed to launch a joint counternarcotics working group.
In the months since the summit, some U.S. officials sought a more robust response from China to prove that it was serious about working together. One point of contention has been that the U.S. wants China to criminally prosecute producers of precursors who actively work with the Mexican cartels. China has resisted, at times telling the U.S. that these people weren’t breaking Chinese law because the chemicals hadn’t been restricted by China.
While the latest move by China helps resolve that legal roadblock, experts say its effectiveness in disrupting fentanyl supply chains will be limited. As governments have moved to control more chemical precursors, unregulated alternatives are constantly emerging.
“Drug-trafficking networks and Chinese chemists have shown a great deal of adaptability," said Vanda Felbab-Brown, a counternarcotics expert at the Brookings Institution. Through its latest action, she said, China is going after relatively low-hanging fruit to try to signal to the U.S. that it wants to keep the door open to further cooperation.
The latest moves have been welcomed with cautious optimism by the White House. Other recent actions by Beijing include teaming up with U.S. law enforcement to arrest a suspect who Washington says was helping launder money for Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel.
The recent diplomatic momentum faces uncertainty with three months until the election. On one side, Vice President Kamala Harris is relatively unknown in Beijing, though many expect her to adopt the broad strokes of Biden’s playbook. On the other, former President Donald Trump promises a return to the intense focus on trade that was a hallmark of his first term and which he has previously used to pressure Beijing on fentanyl.
No matter who wins, experts expect China will use the issue of fentanyl to seek concessions from the U.S., whether in the form of lower tariffs, looser rules on technology sales to China or other issues on Beijing’s wish list. China says it believes it is doing the U.S. a favor by helping it fight the fentanyl crisis and it opposes the U.S. trying to make it a scapegoat.
Because the three newly restricted chemicals have few other uses besides making fentanyl, the regulations imposed by Beijing don’t carry substantial costs for China’s chemicals industry. From here, future breakthroughs become more complicated.
Many U.S. officials and experts say they would like to see China also impose strict “know your customer" requirements on companies to verify that they are not doing business with the cartels. So far, Beijing has been resistant.
“This should not be so hard for China to do," said Felbab-Brown. “Yet the messaging from Beijing has been steady: ‘Oh, it will be too costly for us to implement, so no thank you.’"
Clarence Leong contributed to this article.
Write to Brian Spegele at Brian.Spegele@wsj.com
