Stopping the trafficking of fentanyl chemical precursors, cybersecurity and taking advantage of nearshoring should be President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s priorities in the relationship with China, said Lila Abed, an international relations analyst.
This Thursday, the president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, met with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, within the framework of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum (APEC) being held in San Francisco, United States.
Abed commented that this meeting between López Obrador and Jinping is to follow up on the agreements between the Chinese president and Joe Biden on how to stop fentanyl trafficking from the Asian country to North America.
“Mexico and the United States are involved in an electoral process.
For President Joe Biden, for the Republicans and for the entire society in the United States, the issue of fentanyl, apart from stopping the economic growth and influence of China in the world, is something fundamental and Mexico must play a crucial role in stopping the flow. of fentanyl that arrives in the United States,” he commented.
The specialist recalled that a few months ago, López Obrador sent a letter to Xi Jinping requesting information about the companies that traffic chemical precursors used to manufacture fentanyl, which speaks of concern about the issue.
China is also interested in a good relationship with Mexico because it can be the entrance to the US market.
“This is going to be an important issue for China and President Xi Jinping, how to use Mexico as a springboard to reach the largest market for Chinese products, which is the United States?” Abed commented.
For this reason, the specialist added, our country must be careful with nearshoring.
“There is concern on the part of United States legislators that China will take advantage of the North American trade zone to move some of its companies to Mexico, produce its merchandise in our country and transport it to the United States using free trade. in favor of Chinese production.”
Abed included the issue of cybersecurity in the priorities that our country should have in the relationship with China, especially since Mexico is one of the main partners of the United States.
“President López Obrador also has to be very careful about the Chinese technologies that are arriving and that are already established in Mexico, such as Huawei and others. When working on security and cybersecurity issues with the United States, any type of cooperation cannot involve Chinese companies because the United States cannot share information with Chinese companies and therefore Xi Jinping’s government,” he commented.
INTERNATIONAL MEETING
The meeting between López Obrador and Xi Jinping took place within the framework of the APEC meeting, an organization that brings together 21 countries that represent 60 percent of the world’s GDP and almost half of world trade, and to which our country has belonged since 1993. .
“APEC is not a treaty, there are no obligations to adopt decisions that are made by consensus, commitments are made voluntarily. It allows the 21 economies that are part of it to sit down with their counterparts and discuss the great economic challenges in this area of the world and also allows this type of bilateral and sometimes trilateral meetings between leaders on issues that affect the region and the whole world,” explained Lila Abed.