US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken on Tuesday accused China of allowing the supply of chemical precursors used to manufacture fentanyl to Mexico. exported to the United States.

During a speech before a committee of the US Senate Blinken criticized Beijing for not “sincerely cooperating” with Washington to stop drug trafficking. but he warned that they would continue to press him to change his position.

“China will have to decide whether it wants to respond to this demand or whether it is going to continue to leak these chemical precursors in one way or another,” the US diplomat said.

Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine that is mixed with other drugs to enhance its effects, has sparked a public health crisis in the United States, where 100,000 people died from drug overdoses last year.

Blinken explained that many of fentanyl precursor chemicals are legalbut they come to Mexico illegally from China.

“In all of our interactions with China, we have pushed for this particular issue to take action to control the illicit use of fentanyl precursors and other synthetic opioids,” the Secretary of State said.

However, the Asian giant’s response, Blinken explained, was that “it’s a problem for consumers in the United States.”

To put pressure on China in this regard, the Joe Biden government is building an “international coalition against fentanyl” as it is a “global problem,” the foreign secretary said.

The issue also strained U.S. relations with Mexico as Washington assured its neighbor must do “more” to stop fentanyl trafficking and Republicans called for military intervention in Mexico.

For his part, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador denies that fentanyl is produced in his country and insists that the drug comes directly from China to North America, mainly to the United States.

But Beijing denied this after a letter López Obrador sent in April to his colleague Xi Jinping asking for help in the fight against the drug.

(EFE)