In return, China has promised to crack down on the export of fentanyl-precursor chemicals.
The Biden administration has lifted sanctions on China’s Institute for Forensic Science, an office that it had previously accused of playing a role in Beijing’s repression of Uyghurs — the first rollback of U.S. measures intended to punish the abuses.
In announcing the move, the State Department said Washington reversed the measures in exchange for vows by China to crack down on the export of fentanyl-precursor chemicals after Chinese general secretary Xi’s meeting with President Biden.
The Commerce Department initially placed the institute, housed within China’s Ministry of Public Security agency, on its entity list in 2020, alleging that it was “complicit in human rights violations and abuses committed in China’s campaign of repression, mass arbitrary detention, forced labor and high-technology surveillance” against ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang region.
But on Thursday, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said it became clear after Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s meeting with Chinese officials in Beijing last June that the listing “was a barrier to achieving cooperation on stopping the trafficking of precursor chemicals.” He added that it was “a top priority” of Biden and Blinken to stop the trafficking of fentanyl precursors out of China, and “ultimately we decided that given the steps China was willing to take to cut down on precursor trafficking, it was an appropriate step to take.”
One of the main outcomes of Wednesday’s Biden–Xi meeting was an agreement to restart U.S.–China cooperation on counter-narcotics efforts, Biden said. After the meeting, the Chinese Office of National Narcotics Control issued updates to regulations barring the export of drugs, including fentanyl precursors.
China’s Global Times propaganda outlet hailed the reversal of the forensic-institute sanctions, in an editorial quoting an employee of a state-backed think tank who said that the U.S. had decided to “rectify its past errors.”
But Rayhan Asat, a human rights lawyer, said this deal “raises doubts about China’s sincerity in re-establishing a positive U.S. relationship while undermining the US commitment to human rights.”
“Cooperation in combating narcotics drugs facilitated through the black market should form the foundation of a diplomatic partnership as mandated by international laws and conventions to which China is a signatory. Instead, seeking China’s cooperation led to the US compromising on human rights,” said Asat, whose brother Ekpar was detained by the Xinjiang authorities in 2016,
GOP China hawks also panned the move, accusing Biden of caving to Xi while only getting vague promises from the Chinese leader.
“China’s ministry of foreign affairs — aka the CCP’s propaganda machine — said the country is willing to carry out anti-drug cooperation with the US on the ‘basis of equality and mutual respect,’” Representative Ashley Hinson (R., Iowa) told National Review in a statement.
“Give me a break. The CCP should fear the consequences of another ounce of fentanyl coming to the United States from their country — which is why I’m backing legislation to sanction any CCP official involved with producing and trafficking fentanyl precursors — not get a pass on human rights abuses.”