On January 30, Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy Homeland Security Advisor Jen Daskal led a U.S. interagency delegation to Beijing, the People's Republic of China, to coordinate efforts to counter the global manufacturing and trafficking of illicit synthetic drugs, including fentanyl. The delegation included representatives from the Department of State, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Justice, Department of the Treasury, and White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.
Assistant Secretary for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs Todd D. Robinson also met separately with PRC Ministry of Foreign Affairs Director General of the North American and Oceanian Affairs Department Yang Tao and Ministry of Public Security Director General of the International Cooperation Department Hu Binchen. In these meetings, Assistant Secretary Robinson discussed the need for deeper counternarcotics collaboration between the United States and the PRC at all levels, including policymaking, law enforcement coordination, and the sharing of technical information and best practices that can benefit both countries and the world.
The U.S.-PRC Counternarcotics Working Group complements other ongoing efforts by the State Department to counter the scourge of fentanyl, including the Global Coalition to Address Synthetic Drug Threats. It is a mechanism for ongoing bilateral communication and policy and law enforcement coordination to support and implement concrete enforcement actions and exchange information on counternarcotics efforts, which will help to save lives in the United States and around the world.
