Editorial丨Washington trying to pass fentanyl buck to Beijing

Despite Beijing listing all fentanyl-related substances as controlled narcotics in 2019, regulating their production and sale, Washington is using its belated crackdown on the synthetic opioid as part of its campaign targeting China.

尽管中国已在2019年整类列管芬太尼物质，并对其生产和销售进行监管，但美国正利用打击合成阿片类药物的行动针对中国。

Washington has been focusing its attention on China-based suppliers of processor chemicals for the drug. Despite these chemicals having legitimate uses and being legal to trade, it alleges that Beijing is not doing enough to help monitor or regulate purchases from buyers who are using the Chinese-made ingredients to manufacture illegal drugs overseas.

美国一直关注中国芬太尼前体化学品的供应商。尽管这些化学物质合法使用、合法销售，但美方指控中国政府在监管买家购买方面做的不够，这些买家使用中国制造的原料在海外生产非法药物。

That this is part of Washington's broader campaign against China is clear from a brief issued by the US side in August 2021. Noting that Beijing had fulfilled its pledge to the US to place all forms of fentanyl and its analogues on a regulatory schedule, the US-China Economic and Security and Review Commission went on to claim that "Chinese traffickers" were using various strategies to circumvent the new regulations. This claim has now been inflated by Washington into the allegation that "PRC companies are selling vast quantities of precursor chemicals to the drug cartels", as though all Chinese chemical companies were involved in illicit synthetic drug production and trafficking.

2021年8月的一份简报显示，这是美国针对中国的一项行动。美国美中经济与安全与审查委员会指出，中方已经履行了整类列管芬太尼物质的承诺。该委员会补充，“中国毒贩”正在使用各种策略来规避新规定，但这一说法被美方夸大为“中国公司向贩毒集团出售大量前体化学品”，暗指中国所有的化学公司都参与了非法合成药物的生产和运输。

In a move aimed at bolstering those allegations, the US Justice Department announced on Friday that four China-based companies and eight Chinese nationals had been charged for allegedly supplying the precursor chemicals for the purpose of creating the deadly drug for distribution in the US. This is the first time Washington has targeted Chinese companies for shipping precursor chemicals to the US, rather than Mexico.

为了支持这些指控，6月23日，美国司法部指控四家中企和八名个体涉嫌非法制造、营销、销售和供应用于芬太尼生产的前体化学品。这是美国首次就芬太尼生产的前体化学品运往美国而非墨西哥问题起诉中国企业。

Commenting on the US move, the Chinese Foreign Ministry pointed out that China has actively carried out international anti-drug cooperation and taken the lead in regulating all types of fentanyl substances worldwide, playing an important role in preventing the illegal manufacture, trafficking and abuse of fentanyl. It lamented that instead of acknowledging these efforts, the US side has unjustifiably imposed sanctions on the Chinese agency in charge of drug control, is smearing China on the drug control issue and illegally imposed sanctions on Chinese enterprises, and now entraps and indicts Chinese citizens.

中国外交部回应，中国积极开展国际禁毒合作，在全球范围内率先整类列管芬太尼物质，为防范芬太尼非法制贩及滥用发挥了重要作用。美方对此非但不感谢，反而先是无理制裁中方负责禁毒工作的机构，又在禁毒问题上对中国抹黑污蔑，非法制裁中国企业，现在竟然诱捕和起诉中国公民，中方对此表示遗憾。

Rather than trying to politicize the fentanyl issue as part of its campaign against China, the Joe Biden administration should see what it can learn from China's fight against drugs. China has set a good example with its "zero-tolerance" to drug abuse.

与其试图将芬太尼问题政治化，并将之作为对华运动的一部分，美方应该从中国的禁毒行动中学习，中国对毒品“零容忍”为世界树立了良好的榜样。

While it is easy for Washington to pass the buck to China for its fentanyl crisis amid the anti-China hysteria that has been whipped up in the US, that move won't help the country address the problem.

尽管在日益高涨的反华情绪中，美方很容易将芬太尼危机的责任推给中国，但此举无助于解决问题。

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has estimated that about 110,000 people died in the US from fentanyl abuse in 2022. It has also said that fentanyl is a primary cause of death of those aged between 18 and 49 in the country. The US should stop politicizing its fentanyl problem to attack China and instead actually address the root causes of the problem, which stem from the same fertile soil as its other social ills.

美国疾病控制和预防中心估计，2022年美国约有11万人死于芬太尼滥用，芬太尼是该国18至49岁人群的主要死亡原因。美方应停止借将芬太尼问题政治化攻击中国，而是从根源上解决问题。

Fentanyl

英 /'fentənaɪl/美 /'fɛntənɪl/

n. 芬太尼(一种止痛剂)

Allege

英 /əˈledʒ/美 /əˈledʒ/

vt.宣称，断言

Politicize

英 /pə'lɪtɪsaɪz/美 /pə'lɪtɪsaɪz/

vt. 使政治化,使具有政治性