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Washington — China's The White House said Monday that a move to suspend cooperation with the United States to combat drug trafficking, including illegal fentanyl, is "unacceptable" as Beijing continues to protest US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan. Stated.
China announced new military exercises around Taiwan on Monday. This comes a day after the conclusion of the largest-ever exercise scheduled in response to her highest-level US visit in 25 years to an island claimed by China.
In addition to the drills, Beijing last week canceled or suspended a series of channels of cooperation with Washington, including theater-level military talks, climate change and cross-border crime exchanges. announced, and anti-narcotics.
Rahul Gupta, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), said he was disappointed with the move given the ongoing fentanyl overdose epidemic. . United States last year.
“As illegal fentanyl continues to kill one person every five minutes, we urge China (the People's Republic of China) to help bring these illegal drug traffickers to justice. Withholding is unacceptable and involved in this global criminal enterprise," Gupta said in a statement.
The disruption would have global repercussions, he said.
"China has and must play a key role in stopping the illegal distribution of drugs like fentanyl and its precursor chemicals," Gupta said. He added that the United States will continue to push for international action.
Despite China's ban on fentanyl and similar variants in 2019, China continues to be a major source of illicit fentanyl and fentanyl-related substances trafficked into the United States.
Beijing says it has internationally recognized efforts to tightly control drugs, including fentanyl.
Before China halted cooperation, US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping held a July conference call to discuss the fentanyl issue and ordered teams to conduct follow-up work. was
A report to Congress last August said weak cooperation from Chinese authorities has hampered efforts to curb increasingly sophisticated forms of fentanyl trafficking.
(Reporting by Michael Martina, Editing by Bernadette Baum)
