Tuesday, October 8, 2024 | 12:00 PM EDT

The fentanyl crisis is a serious public health and security issue, particularly in the United States, with its high number of overdose deaths. Chinese entities play a significant role in the fentanyl supply chain, from chemical precursors to money laundering. While efforts to regulate production in China have been inconsistent, Beijing’s recent move to restrict fentanyl-related chemicals, after years of U.S. pressure, shows potential cooperation ahead of the U.S. election.  

In an interview conducted on October 8, 2024, Zongyuan Zoe Liu and Rick Waters, in conversation with Tobias Smith, explore the critical intersection of the U.S. fentanyl crisis and its impact on U.S.-China relations, particularly in the context of the upcoming 2024 U.S. presidential election. 

Speakers

Zongyuan Zoe Liu

Zongyuan Zoe Liu is the Maurice R. Greenberg senior fellow for China studies at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). Her work focuses on international political economy, global financial markets, sovereign wealth funds, supply chains of critical minerals, development finance, emerging markets, energy and climate change policy, and East Asia-Middle East relations. Dr. Liu’s regional expertise is in East Asia, specifically China and Japan, and the Middle East, particularly Gulf Cooperation Council countries. Dr. Liu is the author of Can BRICS De-dollarize the Global Financial System? (Cambridge University Press, 2022) and Sovereign Funds: How the Communist Party of China Finances its Global Ambitions (Harvard University Press, 2023). 

Dr. Liu received her Ph.D. in international relations from Johns Hopkins University and her M.A. in international relations from the George Washington University Elliott School of International Studies. She received her B.A. in history from Shandong Normal University in Jinan, China.  

Rick Waters

Rick Waters is the managing director of Eurasia Group’s China practice. His research interests include China’s global and regional diplomacy, U.S.-China relations, and China’s domestic political economy. 

Mr. Waters joined Eurasia Group after a 27-year career as a U.S. State Department foreign service officer, culminating with his appointment as deputy assistant secretary of state for China and Taiwan and overseeing creation of the Office of China Coordination, informally known as the China House Mr. Waters also held multiple roles at the U.S. embassy in Beijing – including during the period between the accidental U.S. bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade in 1999 and the Hainan Island incident in 2001. 

A graduate of Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service, Mr. Waters is based in Eurasia Group’s Washington, D.C., office.  

Moderator

Tobias Smith

Tobias Smith is an assistant professor of the administration of justice at Ohlone College in northern California. His research focuses on the causes of variation in criminal punishment, particularly in China and the United States His first major project is a study of the causes and consequences of 21st century death penalty reform in China, the world’s leading executioner state. The project draws on nearly two years of fieldwork in China. His dissertation, “The Contradictions of Chinese Capital Punishment,” received the Law and Society Association’s 2021 Annual Dissertation Prize. Dr. Smith has done a variety of advocacy and policy work centered on criminal justice, human rights, and conditions of confinement.  

Dr. Smith holds a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley and a J.D. from Berkeley Law School. He was a 2021-2022 Wilson China Fellow and is a fellow in the NCUSCR Public Intellectuals Program.