U.S. Reps. Young Kim (R-CA) and Michael McCaul (R-TX) this week led 15 of their Republican colleagues in expressing “deep concern” to the Biden administration about recent news reports that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) would only restart counternarcotics cooperation with the United States if the U.S. lifts sanctions on China’s police ministry.
Specifically, China’s Ministry of Public Security’s Institute of Forensic Science was added to the U.S. Commerce Department’s Entity List on June 5, 2020, for engaging in human rights violations and abuses in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region of China.
“This demonstrates the CCP’s continued efforts to link unrelated issues as a negotiation tactic and to leverage diplomatic engagement as a reward for CCP-perceived ‘good behavior’,” wrote Rep. Kim, Rep. McCaul, and their colleagues in an Aug. 1 letter sent to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.
Among the members who also signed the letter were U.S. Reps. Andy Barr (R-KY), Dan Newhouse (R-WA), John Moolenaar (R-MI), Brian Mast (R-FL), and Bill Huizenga (R-MI).
They noted that because most of the precursors from fentanyl originate in China, the country has an obligation to cooperate with the United States on counternarcotics work without preconditions.
The lawmakers cited data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showing that more than 105,000 Americans died of drug overdoses, with 66 percent of those deaths related to synthetic opioids including fentanyl in the 12-month period ending in October 2021. And according to the Drug Enforcement Agency, China remains the primary source of fentanyl-related substances trafficked into the United States.
“The CCP is using American lives as a bargaining chip to achieve sanctions relief for its human rights abuses,” wrote Reps. Kim, McCaul, and their colleagues.
Furthermore, they wrote, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is bound by international law to cooperate with the international community to stop the flow of outbound fentanyl precursors to North America.
“Given how many of our constituents have died from fentanyl overdoses, we expect the administration to regularly engage our offices on efforts it is taking to hold the PRC accountable to these obligations,” wrote the lawmakers. “We do not support lifting export controls or sanctions as a condition for cooperation with the PRC, and we are considering legislation to ensure the administration cannot circumvent Congress.”