U.S. officials call suspension of China-U.S. drug control cooperation "unacceptable"

　　China News Service, Beijing, August 12 (Reporter Liang Xiaohui and Guo Chaokai) Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin hosted a regular press conference on August 12.

　　A reporter asked: Recently, Gupta, director of the National Drug Control Policy Office of the White House, tweeted about China's countermeasures against Pelosi's visit to Taiwan, saying that drug overdose causes 100,000 lives in the United States every year. "unacceptable".

What is China's comment?

　　Wang Wenbin: Ignoring China's solemn warnings and repeated representations, Pelosi insisted on visiting Taiwan, which seriously affected the political foundation of China-US relations.

China's announcement of eight countermeasures, including the suspension of China-US anti-drug cooperation, is a resolute and forceful response to the provocation by the US and Taiwan, and is completely reasonable, appropriate and appropriate.

Regarding the issue of fentanyl abuse in the United States, I would like to emphasize three points:

　　First, the root cause of the fentanyl abuse crisis in the United States lies in the United States itself.

The international community, including China, has become more and more strict with the control of fentanyl-like substances. The abuse of fentanyl and other synthetic opioids in the United States continues to worsen, and the number of deaths from overdose has increased instead of falling.

According to statistics from the International Narcotics Control Bureau, the United States is the world's largest producer and consumer of fentanyl-like drugs. Americans, accounting for 5% of the world's total population, consume 80% of the world's opioids.

The U.S. government is out of control over prescription drugs, not enough publicity about the dangers of drugs, ineffective measures to reduce drug demand, and ineffective drug control.

The U.S. side must face up to its own problems and cannot avoid treating diseases.

　　Second, China has made great efforts to help the United States resolve the fentanyl issue.

The problem of fentanyl is not prominent in China, and it has never been abused on a large scale.

With a humanitarian and responsible attitude, China has always helped the US to solve the fentanyl abuse crisis, and worked with other countries around the world to tackle the new challenges of the drug problem.

There are 27 fentanyl-like substances controlled in the United Nations Convention against Drugs.

China is the first in the world to implement an entire category of fentanyl-like substances under control, and the controlled varieties far exceed the scope of the United Nations Convention.

However, as the country with the most prominent fentanyl problem in the world, the United States has yet to officially list all fentanyl-like substances.

China has shown enough goodwill and sincerity to carry out extraordinary cooperation with the United States, which is unprecedented in China's routine drug control practice. It has played an important role in preventing the illegal production, trafficking and abuse of fentanyl-like substances, and has also established a solid foundation for international drug control cooperation. A model that has been fully recognized by the international community.

　　Third, the responsibility for undermining China-US anti-drug cooperation lies entirely with the US side.

It has been more than two years since the U.S. side listed scientific research institutions responsible for the detection and control of fentanyl-like substances, such as the Physical Evidence Identification Center of the Ministry of Public Security of China and the National Narcotics Laboratory, on the "entity list" on the grounds of the so-called human rights issue in Xinjiang.

The U.S. has been making negative and untrue remarks publicly, repeatedly hyping up old cases, sanctioning Chinese companies on the grounds of fentanyl, offering high rewards to wanted Chinese citizens, misleading the public, blaming others, and shifting the blame for the poor governance of domestic drug abuse.

The Chinese side has lodged representations with the U.S. side many times, but the U.S. side has yet to respond.

The US side should fully bear the consequences of damaging the relations between the two countries and damaging China-US anti-drug cooperation.

　　I would like to stress that China's stance on strict drug control is resolute.

Against the background of the continuous spread of the global drug situation, China's drug control has achieved remarkable results.

As a responsible major country, China will, as always, actively participate in international and multilateral anti-drug cooperation, and contribute Chinese wisdom and Chinese strength to global drug governance.

We also sincerely hope that the US can effectively resolve the fentanyl abuse crisis at an early date and that the American people can get rid of the harm of drugs as soon as possible.

(Finish)