After President Joe Biden’s meeting with Chinese dictator Xi Jinping at the APEC Summit, the United States has made a controversial move to drop a Chinese laboratory from its list of sanctions in the nation’s purported ‘fentanyl crackdown.’
“The continued listing of the (Institute of Forensic Science) on the list was a barrier to achieving cooperation on stopping the trafficking of precursor chemicals” used to make the synthetic opioid, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters on Thursday.
Washington had previously accused the IFS, which is part of China’s Ministry of Public Security, of being implicated in human rights crimes against the country’s Uyghur people. In 2020, it was added to a list of sanctioned countries.
During a conference in San Francisco on Wednesday, Chinese President Xi Jinping committed to tighten down on the manufacture of fentanyl compounds in China as the narcotic continues to enter the United States.
Beijing has described the IFS as critical to cracking down on precursor chemicals, which are frequently trafficked to Mexico and then used to manufacture fentanyl for illicit entry into the United States.
“When we evaluated the issue, and looked at all of the merits of delisting the IFS, ultimately we