FBI director Patel visits Beijing to address Fentanyl: Reuters

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Reuters
Today 08:58
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FBI Director Kash Patel traveled to Beijing last week for undisclosed talks on fentanyl trafficking with Chinese officials.

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FBI director Kash Patel speaks during a roundtable on criminal cartels with United States President Donald Trump in the State Dining Room of the White House, Washington, the US, on October 23, 2025. (AP)

Kash Patel, Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), visited China last week for talks with Chinese officials focused on the transnational flow of the synthetic opioid Fentanyl and precursor chemicals, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

The visit, which was not officially announced by either the United States or Chinese government, saw Patel arrive in Beijing on Friday and hold talks on Saturday with officials from China’s security and enforcement ministries, according to the sources.

The timing of the visit follows a high-profile summit between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, during which both leaders affirmed a mutual “consensus” on tackling fentanyl trafficking.

Strategic shift in US-China enforcement ties

Under the emerging arrangement, President Trump agreed to halve tariffs on Chinese goods, from punitive levels to 10%, contingent on China’s cooperation against fentanyl supply chains.

Beijing has long stressed it is acting against fentanyl precursor exports, and has criticized US efforts as clear political “blackmail”. The inclusion of an FBI-level visit signals a deepening of the operational enforcement dimension of the Trump-Xi agreement.

As the leading cause of overdose deaths in the US, fentanyl poses a major public-health and security challenge.

China's contribution to countering Fentanyl precursors

Meanwhile, China has put in place a comprehensive legal and administrative framework to regulate the full life-cycle of precursors, introducing the “Regulations on the Administration of Scheduled Precursor Chemicals” and related rules covering production, sales, transport, import, export, licensing, and reporting.

According to China's State Council Information Office, Beijing expanded its control list to cover key chemicals such as 4-ANPP, NPP, 4-AP, 1-boc-4-AP, and norfentanyl, classifying them into strict supervisory categories (Class I and Class II) with rigorous approval, reporting, and tracking mechanisms.

Exports of these precursors are subject to permit systems and international verification. In addition, China has built a closed-loop digital tracking system to monitor production, sale, purchase, transport, import, and export of scheduled precursors, reinforced supervision of online chemical platforms and postal services, and deployed early-warning and risk-monitoring mechanisms to pre-empt diversion into illegal overseas manufacturing channels.