China has agreed to crack down on companies that produce and export the precursor chemicals used to manufacture illicit drugs, particularly the deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl. The reported deal will be concluded when China’s President Xi Jinping meets with President Biden on the sidelines of Wednesday’s summit in San Francisco.
News of the emerging fentanyl agreement between Mr. Biden and Mr. Xi was first reported by Bloomberg.com.
Mr. Biden and his Chinese counterpart are set to meet for four hours ahead of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. Along with the narcotics crackdown, the two leaders are expected to discuss a range of issues, including tensions over Taiwan and Beijing’s concerns about U.S. export controls intended to slow its military buildup, according to the Financial Times.
Fentanyl has been linked to hundreds of thousands of deaths in the U.S. A deal would mark a significant achievement for the Biden administration, which has sought to tackle proliferation of the drug considered 50 times more potent than heroin.
In return for Beijing’s fentanyl crackdown, the White House will lift restrictions on China’s Forensic Police Institute, which the Biden administration has accused of committing human rights abuses, according to media reports.
Wednesday’s meeting will be the second between the two leaders as both sides try to stabilize U.S.-China relations.
• Mike Glenn can be reached at mglenn@washingtontimes.com.
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