The Secretary of State of the United States, Antony Blinken, will put on the table during his next trip to Beijing the problem of fentanyl, whose chemical precursors are exported from China to Mexico, where, according to Washington, the substance is manufactured.
“We hope to raise our concerns about China’s activities in various areas during the trip,” State Department spokesman Matt Miller said at his daily briefing.
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Miller stressed that the US concerns are “well known” and include the fentanyl trafficking, the tension with Taiwan and the “alignment” of Beijing with Moscow in the war in Ukraine.
Friction between Washington and Mexico has escalated in recent months over fentanyl, an opioid that causes record numbers of drug overdose deaths in the United Statessince both governments accuse each other of not doing enough to stop its transfer and consumption.
The Mexican government has denied that the substance is manufactured in its territory and has targeted China, which has also denied being behind its export.
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In an appearance before the Senate in May, Blinken denounced that Beijing was not “genuinely cooperating” with Washington to stop drug trafficking. The leader of US diplomacy will address this issue directly with his counterparts during his trip to Beijing on June 18 and 19, which was announced on Wednesday.
Blinken will thus resume the visit to China that he postponed last February after denouncing the presence of an alleged Chinese spy balloon in US airspace.
The trip, whose main objective is to keep open the lines of communication between both powersis the first by a US Secretary of State to the Asian giant since 2018.
“We believe that we have strengthened the American ability to outpace China with the economic actions and policies that we have taken. And we think it is important to have those lines of communication open,” White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said in her speech. daily press conference.
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For the spokesperson, it is the “responsible” way to address tensions. “China has taken and will continue to take provocative steps. (…) That is why we believe that intense competition requires intense diplomacy“, said.
The representative of the Department of State had explained this Wednesday that although the United States and China disagree on a large number of issues, “it is important that the two greatest world powers can communicate directly so that their rivalry does not lead to a conflict.”
“So we look at this trip as a way to establish those communication channels and leverage them for future meetings and future trips,” Miller said.
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