As deaths from opioid overdoses continue to rise in the United States, President Joe Biden had a prime opportunity to press Chinese leader Xi Jinping on his country's contribution to the fentanyl crisis during their Monday meeting in Indonesia.
But there was no public mention of the crisis during a nearly three-hour meeting in Bali. The White House released a summary of their meeting, which did not mention China's manufacturing of fentanyl ingredients and exporting it to Mexico, and in text of a Biden news conference later Monday, released by the White House, the topic was not broached.
Overdose deaths from opioids in the U.S. rose 15% in 2021 from 2020, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC also said overdose deaths from fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, have increased.
Days before his meeting with Xi, Biden was urged by West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey in a letter, obtained by WOWK-TV, to raise the fentanyl issue with China's leader. West Virginia has seen a 10% increase in overdose deaths from fentanyl and other synthetic opioids from 2020 to 2021, according to Morrisey.
"Fentanyl in the United States comes from ingredients manufactured in China and sent to Mexico, where the ingredients are made into finished fentanyl and trafficked into our country," Morrisey, a Republican, wrote. "President Trump raised the fentanyl issue directly with President Xi Jinping, face to face. As you balance the priorities in the relationship of our two countries, I strongly urge you to do the same.
"We need China to do much more to combat the production of fentanyl, including in particular by regulating the raw ingredients that Mexican drug cartels are using to make fentanyl."
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