The Secretary of State of the United States, Antony Blinken, accused this Tuesday (16) China of allowing the shipment to Mexico of chemical components used in the manufacture of fentanyl trafficked to the American territory.
During a presentation to a US Senate committee, Blinken criticized Beijing for not “genuinely cooperating” with Washington to curb drug trafficking, but warned that his country will continue to press for a change of heart.
“China will have to decide whether it wants to resolve this issue or whether it will continue to allow, one way or another, the diversion of these chemical components,” he said.
Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine and which is mixed with other drugs to increase its effect, has caused a public health crisis in the US, where 100,000 people died last year from overdoses of the substance.
Blinken explained that many of the chemical components of fentanyl are legal but are illegally arriving in Mexico from China.
“In all our contacts with China, we have been pressuring the country on this specific issue to take measures to control the diversion of fentanyl components and other synthetic opioids,” he said.
However, the Asian country’s response, according to the head of US diplomacy, has been that “this is a US consumer problem”.
To put pressure on China in this regard, the Joe Biden administration is forming “an international coalition against fentanyl, because this is a global problem,” Blinken said.
That issue has also strained US-Mexican relations, as Washington has assured that its neighbor should do “more” to curb fentanyl trafficking, while Republicans have called for military intervention in Mexican territory.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has denied that fentanyl is manufactured in his country and said the drug comes directly from China to North America, mainly the US.
But Beijing disputed the information, after a letter that Obrador sent in April to Chinese President Xi Jinping, asking for help in the fight against drugs.
Blinken explained at Tuesday’s hearing that the US seized enough fentanyl last year to kill its entire population, and that 90% of the drug enters the country hidden through official border bridges.
He said that “Mexico is a vital and necessary partner” on this issue, and that President Biden spoke for “many hours” with Obrador on this issue. The chancellor emphasized that Mexico seized “record amounts” of fentanyl last year, but insisted that “clearly more efforts and resources are needed”.
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