US, China launch talks to counter illicit synthetic drugs

By Diyar Guldogan

WASHINGTON (AA) - The US and China launched a joint counter-narcotics working group on Tuesday to combat global manufacturing and trafficking of illicit synthetic drugs including fentanyl.

The move follows a summit last year in San Francisco, California where US President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping agreed on cooperation against the illegal drug trade and to work to reduce the flow of precursor chemicals and pill presses fueling the fentanyl crisis.

"By working to disrupt the flow of fentanyl, this effort aims to save lives in the United States and around the world and halt the corruption and violence of drug traffickers," the White House said in a statement.

According to the statement, both sides emphasized the need to coordinate on law enforcement actions, address the misuse of precursor chemicals, pill presses and related equipment to manufacture illicit drugs, target the illicit financing of transnational criminal organization networks and engage in multilateral fora.

The delegations also discussed the importance of the regular sharing of information to ensure a common understanding of the dynamic illicit threat posed by synthetic drugs.