Certain precursors used in the production of fentanyl are internationally classified as unscheduled chemicals and legal to produce in China and export. Beijing argues that it cannot restrict the export of precursors that are not illegal.
The U.S. has repeatedly called on China to adopt a "know-your-customer" approach such as identifying and verifying customer identities to ensure that these chemicals are not sold to likely drug traffickers and to alert authorities about such buyers.
However, in an interview with Newsweek in September 2022, Qin Gang, the then-Chinese ambassador to the U.S., said that approach "goes far beyond the obligations of countries under the United Nations Convention on Drug Control."
Do most countries adopt a "know-your-customers" approach to prevent chemicals from being used by potential drug-traffickers? I was thinking that most developed countries do this, but I couldn't find any information that confirmed that this was the case.