ByZHANGYI
zhangyi 1 @chinadaily.com.cn
The United States’accusation that
many UScitizens have diedbecause
Chinafailedtopreventfentanylfrom
entering thecountry is not true,a
seniorChineseanti-drug officialsaid
onAug 3.
“ItistruethattheUShasahigh
death rate from the proliferation of
fentanyl-related substances,but the
US has only itself toblame for the
fentanylabusecrisisandChinaisnot
the main sourceoffentanyl in the
country,”Liu Yuejin, deputy director
of theNationalNarcoticsControl
Commission,China’s leading drug
enforcementbody, toldChinaCen-
tral Television.
“Itisacomplete distortion of facts
and is totally unacceptable to the
Chinese people.”
US PresidentDonald Trump
recentlyclaimedChinahad not ful-
filled its promise to stop sales of fen-
tanyl to the US, resulting in many
deaths from drugabuse.
Substances related to fentanyl,
apotent opioid painkiller,were
approved for medical use in the US
in 1968.Inrecent years,alarge num-
ber of UScitizens have died from
fentanyl-related substanceabuse.
Chinastrictlycontrols fentanyl-
like substances,and, from the start
ofMay, 2 5 fentanylanalogueswere
put onChina’s list ofcontrolled sub-
stances, more than the 21 on the US
list.“Thecontrol of fentanyl inChina
is long-term,coveringa kinds ofll
fentanyl substances,”Liu said. “In
contrast, the regulation in the US
is temporaryand notascomplete.”
The internationalcommunity,
including the USDrugEnforcement
Administration,commendedChina’s
move, he said,and Trump hadalso
praised the measure on severalocca-
sions.
Since thecontrol took effect,Chi-
nahadmade unprecedented efforts
inaddressing the fentanyl issue in
terms of issuing law sandregula-
tions,conductingan overall market
inspection,and stepping upapolice
investigation.
According to dataprovidedby the
USDEA, only fourcases of fentanyltraffickingfromChinawerereported
byUSCustomsandBorder Protec-
tion in the second quarter of this
year,Liu said.
“This indicates that the measures
wehave taken have shown great
results,” he said. “However, deaths
causedbyfentanylabuse in the US
remain high. Thus it is impossible
forChinatobeamajor sourceof
fentanyl in the US.
“TheChinese government has
alwaysattached great importance
to drugcontroland maintained
azero-toleranceattitude toward
drugs,”Liu said.
“Itwill keep its promise to strictly
control substances related to fen-
tanyland promote global drugcon-
trol.”America has only itself to blame for opioid abuse crisis, senior official says
BeijingblastsUSfentanylclaim
ByWANGXIAOYU inBeijing
and LIUKUN in Wuhan
A
griculturalscientists from
Chinawho setarice pro-
duction record inades-
ert inDubairecentlyare
expanding trialplanting to look for
even more productive strains that
suit localpalates.
Theaverageannual yield — 9.
metrictonsahectare — hasalready
more than doubled that of previous
ricecultivation efforts inDubailed
byIndiaand Pakistan,accordingto
Cheng Yunfeng, manager of Wuhan
HaidaoInternationalinHubei prov-
ince,which oversees the trialplant-
ing program.
Hesaiditwasevensimilartohigh-
yield varieties intended forconven-
tionalarable land.
The program, running from
November toJune, turned 3.6 hect-
ares ofbarren,arid desert on the out-
skirtsofDubaiintogreenpaddyfield.
The ricevariety thatworks its
magic knois wnassaltwater-toler-
ant rice,arice species developed in
Chinathatcancopewith heavy salt
contentand submergence.
Theoriginal,wildcrop, discovered
on thecoast of SouthChina’sGuang-
dong province in the 1980s, hasbeen
developed intoafamily of saltwater-
tolerant strains. Trialcultivation
acrossChinamaximized desirable
traitsbeforethe projectembarked
overseas.
“The successofourfirst trialin
Dubaiisacrucial step in promot-
ing saltwater-tolerant riceacross the
MiddleEastand evenaround the
globe,”Cheng said.
Adecade-longcooperation plan
was signed in mid-July to further
expand trialplantingand encour-
agecommercialadoptionacross the
UnitedArab Emirates, he said.
Trying to growriceingravelly
desert soil isahuge undertaking in
itself.InDubai,ashortage of fresh-
watercompounded thechallenge
and thwarted decades ofattempts
to growcrops onamass scale in the
city.
“Undergroundwater used for
irrigation inDubaihasanaverage
saltcontent of 1.6 percent,almostequivalent to thewater in the South
ChinaSea,”Cheng said. “Thatwould
kill tender seedlings for sure.
“Toaddress the issue,wefirstused
the traditionalapproach of diluting
water toabout 0.6 percent (saltcon-
tent).More importantly,weadopted
adry, direct-seeding method that
could reduce demands for irrigation
water.
“There is no need toapply the dry-
seedingapproach in our planting
base in Wuhan, since thecity has
sufficient freshwater.But in foreign
lands, it’scrucial to upgrade tech-niques toadapt to localconditions.”
Thebold move to sw itchthe seed-
ingapproachmeant intense manual
laborwas needed tocomplete the
sowing quickly.
“We transported tworice-sowing
machines fromChinato speed up
the process,”Cheng said.
But everycloud hasasilver lining.
Dubaialso provides thebenefits of
warm temperaturesandabundant
daytime sunlight that foster the
growth of rice.
“Inthepastyear,wehavecollected
acertainamount of dataand infor-mation thatwill help us determine
optimalsowingseasons in the future
andassesshowdifferentagricultural
practices, including irrigationand
use of fertilizersand pesticides,
affect eventual output,”Cheng said.
In future trialplanting, thecom-
panyaimstoisolate productive rice
strainswhilefurtherenhancingtheir
resilienceandfine-tuningthetexture
to the pal of loates cal residents,who
prefer fluffy rice to sticky rice.Contactthewritersat
[email protected]After a record-setting planting trial, agricultural scientists seek more strains to suit local palates
Chinaexpandsrice-growinginDubai
“The Chinese
government has
always attached
great importanceto drug control and
maintained a zero-tolerance attitude
toward drugs.”
LIUYUEJIN
Deputydirectorofthe
NationalNarcoticsControl
CommissionFarmers work in a saltwater-tolerant rice field inDubai, UnitedArabEmirates, inMay.PROVIDEDTOCHINADAILY8 CHINANEWS August 9-15, 2019 CHINADAILY GLOBALWEEKLY