China cracks down on fentanyl\, blames U.S. for its abuse

(SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP, SAYING: "I spoke with President Xi of China and he has agreed to make fentanyl another one of the big, big problems." Just 4 months after that talk, China has announced a new crackdown on the synthetic opioid fentanyl.

It's a move that will likely be seen as a major win for Donald Trump, who has repeatedly called on Beijing to curb its spread as the U.S. faces an epidemic of opioid-related deaths.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP SAYING: "It's disgraceful what's happening, coming from different countries including, frankly, China, and others and it's pouring in at record numbers." A Chinese security official made the announcement on Monday (April 1), saying that the government will add fentanyl-related substances to their list of controlled drugs.

But he also added the main factor of fentanyl abuse in the U.S. is America itself.

(SOUNDBITE) (Mandarin) VICE COMMISSIONER OF THE CHINA NATIONAL NARCOTICS CONTROL COMMISSION, LIU YUEJIN, SAYING: "If the United States truly wants to resolve its fentanyl abuse problem, it needs to strengthen its domestic work." (SOUNDBITE) (English) REUTERS CORRESPONDENT MICHAEL MARTINA SAYING: "This is something that the US had been urging China to do and so it's pretty clear that China wants to show that it's being proactive on this as the issued had begun to weigh on U.S.-China trade relations.

US officials including the US trade rep Robert Lightheizer have said they basically hope to get China to address this fentanyl issue within the confines of the any agreement that might come on US trade - China trade frictions." The U.S. Department of Justice says China's become the main source of fentanyl in the United States.

According to U.S. custom agents, Americans have been ordering drugs from overseas via the dark web and the volume of drugs coming into the country has shot upwards with online shopping.

Trump has even called on China to apply the death sentence for fentanyl dealers.