China and US Deepen Cooperation Against Transnational Crime

Beijing (GNP): China and the United States have stepped up law enforcement cooperation in recent months, with joint operations targeting transnational drug trafficking and other cross-border crimes, even as the two countries continue to face significant competition in other areas.

Earlier this month, China’s Ministry of Public Security and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation jointly cracked a transnational case involving the trafficking and manufacture of synthetic cannabinoid precursors, with the US side providing key leads while Chinese authorities carried out the arrests.

In May, the two countries separately announced the resolution of another transnational drug trafficking case. The operation led to the arrest of five suspects, two Chinese nationals and three US nationals, and the seizure of drugs including protonitazene and bromazolam, disrupting a trafficking route spanning both nations.

Following his visit to Beijing in late July, FBI Director Kash Patel said exchanges between China and the United States on combating crime had become unprecedentedly frequent this year, with working-level officials now meeting monthly and communicating daily.

Patel said the two countries had strengthened cooperation against transnational crimes including fentanyl trafficking, cyber fraud and child sexual exploitation, through personnel exchanges, joint investigations and intelligence sharing.

China’s Ministry of Public Security said in July that law enforcement agencies from both countries had carried out a series of practical cooperation initiatives since the start of the year, achieving tangible results in counternarcotics, combating telecom and online fraud, and repatriating fugitives.

Among the cases cited, Chinese, US and UAE law enforcement agencies jointly targeted telecom and online fraud operations in Dubai in May, dismantling nine scam centres and arresting 276 suspects. In a separate case, Chinese authorities repatriated to the United States a US national accused of serious violent crimes.

Experts say counternarcotics remains a priority for the Trump administration, with China and the United States sharing common interests in this and other transnational crime areas. They caution, however, that structural contradictions and Washington’s broader approach to bilateral relations continue to constrain cooperation elsewhere.

Zhang Tengjun of the China Institute of International Studies said counternarcotics, fugitive repatriation and combating telecom fraud were comparatively low-sensitivity governance issues where shared interests made cooperation easier to advance, while friction in technology and geopolitics stemmed from Washington’s zero-sum view of China’s development.

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Zhao Minghao of Fudan University said tangible progress in counternarcotics and law enforcement cooperation could help strengthen the security dimension of bilateral ties, describing consultations in this area as strategically significant for the relationship going forward.

Since the meeting between the two countries’ heads of state in San Francisco in November 2023, China-US relations have shown signs of stabilisation, with dialogue resuming or being established across multiple fields, including the formal launch of a joint counternarcotics working group in 2024.

Wang Honggang of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences said China-US relations are likely to remain defined by both competition and cooperation, with the challenge lying in keeping competition manageable while expanding areas of shared interest.

Kash Patel said, “They are speaking with us daily, which has also never happened before.”