President Xi Jinping sends Wang Xiaohong, his boss of public security, in Switzerland this weekend to sit on the other side of the table of the sales team of President Donald Trump.
The meeting concerns fentanyl and how far Beijing is ready to stay in the game. This is part of the high-level commercial negotiations between China and the United States, with Wang joining the Deputy Prime Minister He Lifeng for consecutive meetings with the Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent and the commercial representative Jamieson Greer.
The confrontation is scheduled for Saturday and Sunday in Geneva. And no, it's not a silent protocol exchange. Xi made the decision to bring his first cop after Trump equalized part of his hard trade rates directly to the bond of China with fentanyl trafficking.
According to At the Wall Street Journal, XI personally chose Wang to be intermediaries on all drug problems with Washington.
Wang leads China's thrust to take the fentanyl out of the table
Wang, who heads the Ministry of Public Security and is at the top of the Council of State, won the role because of its lock with XI. He is there to cope with the new pressure of the White House on China to stop chemical exports linked to the production of fentanyl.
Trump wants hard rules, difficult application and real results. But the Chinese side continues to launch the same argument: as long as the prices remain brutal, they will not do everything possible to help.
This message has not changed much over the years. When Trump hit Beijing with 145% prices on goods after re -election, China retaliated with 125% prices on American products. But things could change. On Truth Social, Trump suggested that it would be open to the reduction of 80% prices, writing: “The 80% price on China seems right! Until Scott B. ” It would always be hard, but it's a signal. He gives them a door to cross – if they bring something to the table.
This something is fentanyl. More than 20% of commercial sanctions were built around Trump's assertion that China did not do enough to stop the drug crisis which kills tens of thousands of Americans each year.
At the time when the prices were abandoned for the first time, Beijing did not even want to talk about it. They said the United States used fentanyl as a front to attack them economically. Now things are different. With financial pressure at home, XI uses the drug problem to move the discussions.
Beijing expected to respond to requests for repression of Trump fentanyl
Yun Sun, a Chinese analyst in the Washington Stimson Center, said that Wang's presence proves that “fentanyl is not only on the table, but also a key article in US-Chinese trade discussions at this stage”. She added: “China's desire is willing to Cooperatera illustrate how impatient they are to conclude the trade agreement.”
The White House has already given Beijing a list of exact requirements on how they want China to deal with the flow of chemicals used in the production of fentanyl. The list includes new rules of application and stronger public warnings against the criminal groups involved in trade.
Familiar officials with meetings would have told the newspaper that Wang would respond directly to these requests in Geneva. And it's not just Wang and him on a trip. This is the entire power structure of XI – the economy and the police – in a delegation.
He Lifeng, who controls the country's planning and financial access, is also the closest economic voice to XI. This couple tells you everything about the seriousness of China who takes these discussions.
Meanwhile, the United States also met Switzerland during the weekend to talk about a separate trade agreement. But the Swiss president Karin Keller-Sutter said that she did not know if Fentanyl had come to the talks of China with her country. This question clearly belongs to the American corner of discussions.
Each panel indicates that Beijing treating fentanyl as its way which came out of commercial compression. They don't want to admit the fault, but they know that the only way to reduce prices is to throw Trump something he wants. Whether it works or not will depend on what Wang and it brings to Geneva – and if Trump's team considers it sufficient.
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