China, US hold first senior officials' counternarcotics meeting since channel resumed, 'a positive engagement'

China and the US recently held their first senior officials' meeting on drug-tackling cooperation since the two countries launched a counternarcotics working group in January, with analysts describing it as a positive and pragmatic engagement.

They noted that China adheres to the principle of humanism and is always open to counternarcotics cooperation with other countries. However, the most important thing for the US to solve its drug problem lies in domestic drug control and improving multi-department collaboration, and if the US politicizes the fentanyl issue and smears other countries again, it will only undermine the hard-won achievements of cooperation.

At the meeting held in Washington on July 31 local time, both countries briefed each other on the latest progress made in their anti-drug work, including substance control, cooperation over relevant cases, technique exchanges, and multilateral cooperation, Xinhua reported on Friday.

The two sides also exchanged their concerns and clarified the direction of cooperation, agreeing to further strengthen dialogue and deepen counternarcotics cooperation on the basis of "mutual respect, managing differences and conducting mutually beneficial cooperation".

According to a White House statement released on Thursday local time, the discussions focused on ways to strengthen coordination on law enforcement actions; disrupt the illicit financing of transnational criminal organization networks; accelerate the scheduling of synthetic drugs and precursor chemicals; address the illicit diversion of precursor chemicals; and exchange information on emerging threats.   

In January this year, China and the US launched a bilateral counternarcotics working group, an implementation of the meeting between the two countries' heads of state in San Francisco and a crucial mechanism for coordinating bilateral efforts to counter the global manufacturing and trafficking of illicit synthetic drugs.

Wu Xinbo, director of the Center for American Studies at Fudan University, told the Global Times that the latest engagement is a phased outcome of the China-US joint efforts in the field of counternarcotics over the past six months, and the overall tone is positive and constructive.

The meeting is also aimed at making a plan for the next stage of cooperation, and dealing with the drug problem is of great political importance, especially in the context of the US election, Wu noted. 

Echoing Wu, Lü Xiang, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said the meeting was a pragmatic one with less politicization. 

China takes an open attitude in counternarcotics cooperation with other countries, and we will not exclude any country, said Lü, noting that China will do its best to maintain dialogue and cooperation with the US in a humanitarian manner, especially as the US has one of the worst drug problems in the world.

According to the Xinhua release, the Chinese delegation had exchanges with several US authorities. The delegation will also have in-depth discussions on key cases with front-line investigators of the US Drug Enforcement Administration's San Francisco office.

Despite the collaboration with multiple departments, Lü said it is difficult to see which department is leading the collaboration in anti-drug tasks, which highlights the issue of lack of multi-agency coordination and lax law enforcement in the US.

At the same time, although the coordination between the two sides has been relatively successful, as the US has gradually adapted to China's stance and principles on drug control in the past few months, differences still remain, Wu said. 

For example, China has stressed that the US drug issue is largely a US domestic one, but the US has always blamed it on others, a manifestation of its inability to deal with its domestic drug problems, Wu said.

"If the US had done stricter domestic prescription control and law enforcement, there would be less demand," Wu said, "most countries did not export drugs to the US, but just raw chemical materials."

With a developed chemical industry that has the strongest management capacity in the world, China has the responsibility to maintain the security of the global chemical supply chain, and will not let fentanyl synthesized in the country flow abroad, Lü said.

China will not reject the US if it is really serious about seeking cooperation in anti-drug law enforcement. But the US' real problems will ultimately have to be solved largely by itself, he added. "If the US politicizes the anti-drug issue again, it will undoubtedly impact cooperation between the two countries again."