Washington DC, United States.- The United States Department of State assured this Thursday that the chemical precursors necessary for the illegal manufacture of the synthetic opioid known as fentanyl do originate in China, an affirmation that occurs the same day that Beijing described fentanyl as a problem “made in the United States”. “.
Questioned about the statements of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs that there is no trafficking of fentanyl or chemical precursors of such a substance from China to Mexico, the State Department avoided responding directly but assured that fentanyl trafficking is a priority of Secretary Antony Blinken.
“The Secretary (Blinken) considers the threat posed by fentanyl to be a high priority for him,” said US State Department spokesman Vedant Patel, referring to the substance the US government says was responsible for the death of more than 71 thousand of its citizens in 2021.
“And a specific part of this, of course, is fentanyl precursors that originate from China and other parts of the world.”
Contrary to official US reports, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs assured that its country has no records of trafficking in fentanyl or chemical precursors for its manufacture between China and Mexico and assured that the responsibility for the serious crisis due to the death of fentanyl lies with the own eu.
“The root cause of the overdose lies in the US itself. The problem is completely ‘made in the US’. The US needs to face its own problems, take more substantial steps to strengthen domestic regulation and reduce demand,” the spokeswoman said. of the Chinese Ministry Mao Ning.
Just this week and in response to a request by US legislators to intervene with China, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador released a letter sent to his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, in which he assures that Mexico does not produce illegal fentanyl and asks him to help to stop your traffic.
According to the most recent version of its International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR), the US Department of State considers China to be the source of most precursor chemicals for drug use. illegal manufacture of fentanyl in Mexico.
According to the report published by the agency in March 2022, transnational Mexican drug trafficking organizations managed in recent years to transfer part of the manufacturing of fentanyl from the People’s Republic of China to Mexican territory using precursors that originate in Asia.
In February, the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) publicly asked the Mexican government to share with them data on seizures of fentanyl and chemical precursors in Mexican ports, as well as to allow operations groups against laboratories and also urged the extradition of more Mexican drug traffickers to the US.
US-China anti-drug cooperation is at a low point after Beijing slashed diplomatic contacts following former US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s August 2022 visit to Taiwan, which China views as an inalienable part of China. your nation.
