Free to Speak》China and the United States join forces to track down fentanyl, intelligence cooperation comes to the fore

◎ Huang Yuxuan

After the Trump-Xi meeting, the United States released the Fact Sheet of the meeting, and China also announced the 8-point outcome of the meeting. Both countries are paying close attention to anti-drug cooperation, especially focusing on the control and criminal liability of fentanyl, new psychoactive substances, and precursor chemicals. It is worth noting that before the Sichuan-Xi meeting, China’s Supreme People’s Court, Supreme People’s Procuratorate, and Ministry of Public Security jointly issued the “Opinions on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Laws in Handling Criminal Cases Involving Fentanyl Substances”, which clearly defined the law enforcement standards for fentanyl-type substances: including the classification and certification of medicinal and non-medicinal substances. Collection guidelines, fact-finding principles, recovery of illegal gains, jurisdiction of related cases, etc., and cooperation with prosecution and trial case standards, such as the "Provisions on the Standards for Filing and Prosecution of Fentanyl Substance Crime Cases" and the "Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Laws in the Trial of Drug Crime Cases". China has gradually formed a governance model for case investigation, evidence identification, and judicial prosecution, striving to protect people's lives and safety.

After the Trump-Xi meeting, both the United States and China paid great attention to anti-drug cooperation, especially the control and criminal liability of fentanyl, new psychoactive substances, and precursor chemicals. The picture shows the Sichuan-Xi meeting. (Reuters file photo)

However, Sino-US anti-drug cooperation is not based on this Sichuan-Xi meeting. Since 1987, the two countries have successively signed the "Memorandum of Sino-US Anti-Drug Cooperation" and the "Sino-US Agreement on Criminal Judicial Assistance", laying the legal basis for anti-drug cooperation. After 2002, the United States and China regularly exchanged anti-drug information through the "China-US Anti-Drug Intelligence Exchange Meeting". In 2023, the two sides established the "China-U.S. Counter-Drug Cooperation Working Group", which included the National Security Council, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice, the Treasury Department, the Postal Service, the State Council, the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, as well as the Chinese Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Commerce, and the General Administration of Customs. It not only shared clues about the purchase of fentanyl drugs and intelligence on the purchase of new psychoactive substances by American customers, but also assisted in the repatriation of criminal suspects. Even though the strategic competition between China and the United States has intensified, intelligence cooperation has not been completely suspended. The focus of the follow-up follow-up of the Trump-Xi meeting is that in the face of drug threats and competing national security systems, they can still exchange intelligence through relevant mechanisms and even pursue cross-border crimes.

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China and the United States cooperate in anti-drug cooperation, regularly exchange anti-drug information, and even pursue cross-border crimes. Pictured is fentanyl. (AP file photo)

(The author is a doctoral student at the Institute of International Affairs and Strategy, Tamkang University)