By Kanishka Singh and Steve Holland
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The first joint meeting of the U.S.-China working group on fentanyl precursor chemicals will be held on Jan. 30 in Beijing, a senior U.S. official said on Sunday.
“This is a key part of the implementation of our bilateral cooperation on this effort,” the U.S. official told reporters.
The official added the United States has information that China started action against Chinese precursor chemical companies around the time of the summit of U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping last November.
The United States will pursue law enforcement actions and impose controls on the precursors. The meeting is a pivotal moment for the issue, the official said.
Top Chinese and U.S. officials held candid talks in Bangkok aimed at lowering tensions between the United States and China on Taiwan and other subjects, ahead of an expected springtime call between President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
Fentanyl is a leading cause of drug overdoses in the United States, and the two leaders discussed efforts to reduce its flow at a summit in California last year. The U.S. is already seeing fewer seizures of illicit chemicals used to make fentanyl at U.S. airports after China moved to shut down companies that make them.
China has started some conversations with Mexico about the issue, the official said.
“It is really important that this is a multilateral issue,” the official said.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh and Steve Holland; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
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