The U.S. keeps expressing hopes of resuming China-U.S. counter-narcotics cooperation on the one hand, but again prosecutes and sanctions Chinese entities and individuals and seriously infringes upon their legitimate rights and interests, which China strongly condemns, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said on Monday.

Wang made the remarks when asked about comments regarding the U.S. prosecuting and sanctioning Chinese enterprises and citizens involved in the precursor chemicals used to produce fentanyl on April 14.

"China has always strictly enforced drug control and has been doing its best to help the U.S. deal with the fentanyl problem in a humanitarian spirit," Wang said.

China took the lead in the world to schedule the whole category of fentanyl-related substances in May 2019, playing a vital role in preventing the illicit manufacturing, trafficking and abuse of these substances. 

Wang said the U.S. not only ignores China's goodwill, but insists on using the so-called human rights issue in China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region as an excuse to unreasonably sanction China's institutions such as the Physical Evidence Identification Center of the Chinese Ministry of Public Security and the National Narcotics Laboratory. 

Now it repeatedly imposes sanctions against Chinese enterprises and individuals and blames China, which seriously undermines the foundation of bilateral anti-narcotics cooperation, he said. 

"It must be pointed out that the U.S.'s so-called fentanyl precursors are common chemicals," Wang said, adding that in international trade, the responsibility to prevent common chemicals from flowing into narcotics production channels lies with the importer.

The root of drug abuse in the U.S. lies in the U.S. itself, Wang pointed out, adding that the U.S. population accounts for only 5 percent of the global population, but consumes 80 percent of the world's opioids, and so far has not permanently scheduled the entire class of fentanyl.

Amid the increasingly strict control of fentanyl-like substances in China and the international community, the U.S.'s fentanyl problem continues to worsen and the death toll is not falling but rising, which the U.S. should deeply reflect on this, the spokesperson said.

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Instead of decreasing domestic drug demand, strengthening the control of prescription drugs and the publicity and education of drug hazards, the U.S. imposes sanctions against other countries arbitrarily in an attempt to confuse and mislead the public, and shift the responsibility of its own ineffective governance, he said.

The prosecutions and sanctions against Chinese enterprises and citizens will further create obstacles for bilateral anti-narcotics cooperation, Wang said, adding that the U.S. should correct its mistakes and stop blaming others if it sincerely wants to solve its domestic drug problem.

The Chinese side will continue to take necessary measures to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises and individuals, he added.

(Cover: People gather on a street overtaken by heroin users in Philadelphia, U.S., July 19, 2021. /CFP)