The Chinese government said recently that the US should look within its own borders to find the reason for exploding opioid abuse rather than spread rumors that China is the major source of synthetic substances. Yu Haibin of the China Narcotics Control Commission said that the causes of the opioid crisis in the US were rampant over-prescription and “lax cultural attitudes.”
In November, President Trump blamed a “flood of cheap and deadly” chemicals made in China for the drug epidemic. Yu doesn’t deny that shipments of synthetic opioid do come from China but said there isn’t proof that shows exactly how much. He urged the US to share more intelligence with Chinese authorities on the matter, adding that authorities have only sent him information about six shipments from China in the past year.