Chinese embassy rejects US claims, says precursor chemicals for Mexican fentanyl not from China
- Beijing’s embassy in Mexico said the ‘root of the fentanyl crisis in the United States is within itself’
- It also accused Washington of ‘blindly shirking its responsibilities’ by not taking domestic action
Precursor chemicals used by Mexican cartels to make the deadly opioid fentanyl do not come from China, the country’s embassy in Mexico said on Tuesday, rejecting US officials’ claims.
The embassy said in a statement that China had a number of measures in place to prevent the trafficking of substances used to make illegal drugs, and added the US was “blindly shirking its responsibilities” by not taking domestic action.
“The root of the fentanyl crisis in the United States is within itself,” the embassy said.
US President Joe Biden’s administration has been seeking cooperation with both Mexico and China in stemming the flow of fentanyl, which has fuelled a health crisis and a sharp uptick in overdose deaths, as well as its precursor chemicals.
The US Drug Enforcement Agency says the addictive painkiller and its precursors are transported from China to Mexico, the US and Canada, often by international mail.
China had denied illegal trafficking of fentanyl to Mexico in an April statement, though it did not address precursor chemicals.
The embassy on Tuesday added China was “actively coordinating and strengthening” supervision of drugmaking substances with Mexico.
The US embassy in Mexico and Mexico’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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The Chinese statement, the embassy said, comes after recent comments from US ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar and other US officials.
Last week, the US Treasury sanctioned 10 people with suspected ties to the Sinaloa Cartel’s fentanyl network, as well as a company accused of importing chemicals from China.
“This represents a blow to [the cartel’s] financial operations and illicit activities, since the company receives chemical shipments from China,” Salazar said in a statement.
