The just-concluded meeting between the heads of state of China and the United States reached an eight-point consensus on outcomes, including one point in particular:
The cooperation between the anti-drug law enforcement agencies of China and the United States has achieved visible results.
A few months ago, when the heads of state of China and the United States met in Beijing, the two sides mentioned expanding exchanges and cooperation in law enforcement and other fields. This time, after expanding cooperation, there have been concrete results.
One of them is a transnational drug-related case that was jointly investigated by Chinese and American anti-drug law enforcement agencies in August this year and the details were announced in September.
Interestingly, when describing this cooperation, China used the expression "visual results" in the press release, while the US press release used the term "major milestone."
Implementing the consensus of the heads of state, expanding exchanges and cooperation, correct understanding and correct actions, what positive feedback will it bring to Sino-US relations?
Sino-US anti-drug law enforcement cooperation provides an opportunity for observation.
During this visit, China mentioned:
China is willing to strengthen cooperation with the United States in drug control, law enforcement and other areas.
China's willingness to strengthen cooperation with the United States demonstrates China's attitude. Let’s look at where the demand for cooperation comes from:
A review of public anti-drug law enforcement cases between China and the United States reveals that many cooperations are carried out at the request of the United States.
The reason is not difficult to understand. The United States is the world's largest producer and consumer of fentanyl drugs, and opioid abuse is serious.
Today, the huge drug consumption market has even led to a long transnational chain.
In order to manufacture drugs, some illegal drug manufacturers will look for raw materials and chemicals that can potentially be used to make drugs all over the world, and will also find dealers in various countries.
The entire illegal chain may include those who advertise, sell goods, and provide trading platforms, as well as those responsible for processing, transportation, distribution, and drug-related money laundering. These links are scattered in different countries. Looking at one of the transactions alone, it is difficult to know how it is related to subsequent drug production activities.
Zhang Li from the People's Public Security University of China told Tan Zhu that the United States has a very strong demand for China in anti-drug cooperation. On the one hand, this is related to the proliferation of drugs in the United States itself, and on the other hand, it is related to China's good anti-drug control.
China is one of the countries with the strictest and most thorough implementation of anti-drug policies in the world. As early as 2019, China became the first country in the world to list an entire class of fentanyl-like substances. China has also established an urban domestic sewage monitoring network covering nearly 5,000 sewage treatment plants in 365 cities, as well as a biological sample monitoring network covering high-risk groups.
Considering that the drug problem is a global challenge, China has been actively cooperating with the international community.
Therefore, we can also see that in the Sino-US joint investigation case announced by the United States in September, it specifically mentioned:
thanks to the cooperation of Chinese law enforcement(Thanks to the cooperation of Chinese law enforcement agencies)
Only by starting from the demand side and focusing on every link in the chain can we effectively deal with this problem.
The United States faces up to the demand behind its own drug epidemic, and China is also willing to respond to the United States' request from the perspective of jointly responding to global challenges.
If mutual respect, professionalism and pragmatism are achieved, Sino-US cooperation can go further.
This case announced in September is one of the cases that best reflects Sino-US anti-drug law enforcement cooperation in recent years.
In the Chinese press release, it specifically mentioned:
In mid-August, the Ministry of Public Security organized police in Hebei and other places to launch a unified operation to close the net, arresting 21 people involved in the case, including Xing and Song, and seized a batch of non-listed precursor chemicals that can be used in drug production.
"Non-scheduled precursor chemicals" is a term rarely mentioned in previously announced drug control cases between China and the United States.
As the name suggests, they are chemicals that have not yet been included in the control regulations.
You should know that if you only look at the chemicals themselves, usually only those that have been listed in the regulations will be subject to special control measures.
Narcotic drugs, psychotropic drugs, and precursor chemicals are subject to separate control regulations.
China has long implemented the entire category of synthetic cannabinoid substances involved in this case. However, after the raw materials for direct drug production are controlled, criminals will continue to go upstream, and even look for chemicals further upstream; some will also combine several chemicals with normal uses and transport them overseas for further processing.
"Can be used to make drugs", but "not listed", this is the difficulty. Not to mention cross-border cases, the chain is long and complicated.
But this time, when China responded to the U.S. request, it also traced chemicals that had not yet been listed but had entered the drug manufacturing chain.
Professor Zhang Yong'an, director of the International Counter-Narcotics Policy Research Center at Shanghai University, noticed that the recent discussions at the China-U.S. bilateral Track II and Track 1.5 dialogues have involved precursor chemicals that have not yet been listed; chemists from the U.S. technical team are studying precursors that may be used by criminals in the laboratory to try to identify new drug production routes earlier.
This also shows that with the cooperation between China and the United States in anti-drug law enforcement this year, the two sides are discussing not only how to crack down on drugs after they are seized, but also how both sides can prepare and intervene in advance.
Moreover, at this critical moment, the country reminds us to prevent some chemicals that have normal uses but may be used to make drugs from flowing into illegal channels.
On September 22, the Office of the National Narcotics Control Commission issued a warning notice to prevent the risk of medetomidine and tartaric acid being lost and used for drug production. On the afternoon of the same day, five departments including the Ministry of Commerce and the Ministry of Public Security issued an announcement on adjusting the "Management Catalog of Precursor Chemicals Exported to Specific Countries (Regions)".
This is a reflection of China's responsibility and responsibility in drug control, and it is also a space that China and the United States can continue to open up for anti-drug law enforcement.
In the case announced in September, the Chinese press release, when introducing the relevant US departments, specifically mentioned that it was jointly investigated with the FBI.
This is the first time that China has mentioned this department in the case drafts on Sino-US anti-drug law enforcement cooperation in the past two years.
The U.S. press release also specifically mentioned:
The "FBI-China Ministry of Public Security Anti-Drug Working Group" established in January this year promoted cooperation in this case.
For a long time, since the Drug Enforcement Administration of the U.S. Department of Justice has branches in many parts of the country, anti-drug work has basically been carried out by the Drug Enforcement Administration. At the Sino-US anti-drug intelligence exchange meeting in February this year, the US was still led by the Drug Enforcement Administration.
The FBI is mainly responsible for investigating cases at the federal level in the United States. This also means that the two parties have another direct connection that can be used in such transnational cases.
What effect does one more contact have on handling the case?
In this case in September, the United States invested not only the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration of the Department of Justice, but also the Homeland Security Investigations Bureau of the Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Postal Service, etc.
With more people and channels, things will be easier to handle. Law enforcement cooperation between the two parties can deal with matters that can also be expanded from drug control to more areas.
Among the Sino-U.S. law enforcement cooperation cases publicly disclosed since this year, in addition to three joint drug-related cases, there is also one case of repatriation of drug-related fugitives, a joint operation between Chinese, American and Afghan police forces to combat electronic fraud, and two cases of fugitive transfers from different directions. The scope of cooperation between the two parties has gone far beyond a single issue.
There are also many sources of clues, including those provided by the United States, some provided by the Chinese side, and some shared at the meeting.
This is where the significance of bilateral cooperation lies - not only can it maintain the public security of both countries, but it can also serve as a good reference for countries to jointly respond to new transnational crimes. Now, law enforcement cooperation between China and the United States and third-party countries has also begun.
According to Tan Zhu’s understanding, the cooperation between China’s Ministry of Public Security and the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) now involves four types of working groups: Internet fraud, violent crimes against children, drug control, and fugitive pursuit.
Looking back at the Sino-US anti-drug law enforcement cooperation over the past two years, there is another change worth noting.
After the two heads of state met in Busan last October, the United States canceled the 10% so-called "fentanyl tariff" imposed on Chinese goods. FBI Director Patel visited China in July this year. The US made it clear in a press release that the visit was to follow up on the results of the heads of state meeting.
Consensus has fallen on specific departments and cases, and cooperation methods are also changing. The results of cooperation are more obvious and "visible", and the progress is accelerated.
The US also expressed similar views in its press release. The results of the case handling reflect the role of continuous and organized docking between the two parties.
Of course, how far cooperation can go depends on whether both parties pay equal attention to each other's needs.
Not long ago, when a senior US official talked about the interaction between China and the United States, he specifically mentioned "implementing the consensus reached by the two heads of state." He said that both sides are indeed advancing work and handling specific issues accordingly.
This is what China has always emphasized. Now, the United States has also begun to use it to explain how the two sides promote cooperation. Anti-drug law enforcement cooperation is a reflection of China and the United States' implementation of the consensus reached by the heads of state.
Facts have proved that even if there have been differences, as long as the two sides move in the right direction and implement each consensus item into specific actions, visible positive feedback can be formed and new cooperation results can be continuously accumulated.
The long-term development of bilateral relations is often reflected in these specific matters. This is true for drug control, and it is also true for other areas of mutual concern such as economy, trade, and artificial intelligence.
