Washington (EFE)
During an appearance before a United States Senate committee, he criticized that Beijing is not “genuinely cooperating” with Washington to curb drug trafficking, but warned that they will continue to press for it to change its position.
“China will have to decide if it wants to respond to this demand or if it is going to continue to allow the diversion of these chemical precursors in one way or another,” said the leader of US diplomacy.
Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid between 50 and 100 times more potent than morphine and which is mixed with other drugs to enhance its effect, has caused a public health crisis in the United States, where last year 100,000 people died from drug overdoses. substance.
The war on fentanyl
Blinken explained that many of the chemical precursors to fentanyl are legal, but find their way into Mexico illegally from China.
“In all of our contacts with China, we have been pressing on this particular issue for it to take measures to control the illicit diversion of fentanyl precursors and other synthetic opioids,” the secretary said.
However, the Asian giant’s response, Blinken explained, has been that “this is a consumer problem in the United States.”
To put pressure on China in this regard, the Joe Biden government is building “an international coalition against fentanyl” because this is “a global problem,” said the foreign minister.
This issue has also strained the US relationship with Mexico. Since Washington has assured that its neighbor should do “more” to stop the trafficking of fentanyl. While the Republicans have called for a military intervention in Mexican territory.
Mexico’s position
For his part, the president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, has denied that fentanyl is manufactured in his country. He has assured that this drug comes directly from China to North America, mostly to the United States.
But Beijing denied this after a letter that López Obrador sent in April to his counterpart Xi Jinping asking for help in combating this drug.
Blinken explained in Tuesday’s appearance that the United States seized enough fentanyl last year to kill its entire population. And that 90% of the drug enters the country hidden through the official border bridges.
For this reason, he stated that “Mexico is a vital and necessary partner” in this, and that President Biden has spoken for “many hours” with López Obrador on this issue.
He noted that Mexico seized “record amounts” of fentanyl last year, but insisted that “more efforts and resources are clearly needed.”