China sentenced a man to death and eight others to prison for illegally selling and trafficking fentanyl to the U.S. in a joint probe with U.S. law enforcement, Yu Haibin, a senior official of the China National Narcotics Control Commission (CNNCC) said at a press briefing on Thursday.

The sentence in this case fully demonstrated the Chinese government's position and determination to severely punish fentanyl-like substances crimes, as well as embodied the attitude of "zero tolerance" of the Chinese government towards drug crimes, noted the official.

CNNCC and enforcement officers from China and the U.S. briefed media in Xingtai City, north China's Hebei Province, on a fentanyl smuggling case that was jointly uncovered by the two sides.