MEXICO CITY — China’s authorities on Thursday denied the nation’s involvement in any unlawful fentanyl trafficking with Mexico and stated it had not been notified by Mexico’s authorities of any seizures of the precursor chemical substances used to make the highly effective drug.
China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning made the feedback in response to a query a few plea from Mexico President Andrés Manuel López Obrador this week that China assist cease chemical substances utilized by Mexican drug traffickers to supply fentanyl. López Obrador cited U.S. stress to cease the unlawful commerce.
Similar to López Obrador’s feedback in current weeks, Mao positioned the blame for the tens of hundreds of fentanyl overdose deaths within the United States on that nation.
“The root cause of overdose lies in the U.S. itself, and the problem is completely made in the U.S. The U.S. should face up to its own problems, and take more substantive measures to strengthen domestic supervision and reduce demand,” Mao stated.
The U.S. authorities has pressured each Mexico and China to do extra to curb the commerce within the artificial opioid, blamed for about 70,000 overdose deaths per yr within the United States.
The U.S. authorities stated in 2021 that after China began strictly controlling fentanyl, Chinese traffickers began shifting away from completed fentanyl to exporting precursor chemical substances to Mexico the place cartels more and more manufactured the drug and trafficked it north throughout the border.
Most unlawful fentanyl is pressed by Mexican cartels into counterfeit drugs made to seem like different drugs like Xanax, oxycodone or Percocet, or blended into different medication, together with heroin and cocaine.
Many individuals who die of overdoses within the United States have no idea they’re taking fentanyl.
López Obrador, in current weeks, has denied that fentanyl is produced in Mexico. However, his personal administration has acknowledged discovering dozens of labs the place it’s produced, primarily within the northern state of Sinaloa.
López Obrador’s irritation with rising calls amongst some Republican lawmakers for the United States to take extra aggressive motion in opposition to Mexico’s cartels led him to jot down a letter to his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping this week asking for assist.
Mao, the overseas ministry spokesman, empathized with Mexico’s place, however famous that China had already taken sturdy motion in opposition to fentanyl, imposing strict controls on fentanyl and fentanyl-related substances that transcend even what the U.S. has carried out.
“China firmly supports Mexico’s efforts to safeguard its independence and oppose foreign interference, and calls on relevant countries to stop its bullying and hegemonic practice against Mexico,” Mao stated.
“At the same time, we hope that Mexico will take stronger measures in terms of counter-narcotics.”
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