[In his strongest-yet statement on the matter, Trudeau suggested he sees Schellenberg’s new sentence as a political move. “It is of extreme concern to us as a government — as it should be to all our international friends and allies — that China has chosen to begin to arbitrarily apply a death penalty,” he told reporters in Ottawa.]
By
Gerry Shih and Gerry Shih
 |
|
A general view of the
Intermediate People's Court of Dalian, where the retrial for
Robert Lloyd
Schellenberg, a Canadian citizen convicted on drug smuggling
charges, was held, in
Liaoning province, China, on Jan. 14.
(China Stringer
Network/Reuters)
|
BEIJING
— Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday expressed
“extreme concern” after a Chinese court sentenced a Canadian man to death in a
retrial ordered not long after the arrest in Vancouver of a Chinese technology
executive.
A death sentence for Canadian Robert Lloyd
Schellenberg, 36, complicates an ongoing standoff over the arrest of Huawei
Technologies’ chief financial officer on U.S. charges and the subsequent
detention in China of two Canadians on national security charges.
In his strongest-yet statement on the matter,
Trudeau suggested he sees Schellenberg’s new sentence as a political move. “It
is of extreme concern to us as a government — as it should be to all our
international friends and allies — that China has chosen to begin to arbitrarily
apply a death penalty,” he told reporters in Ottawa.
Later Monday, Canada’s Foreign Ministry
updated its travel advisory for China to include a warning about the “arbitrary
enforcement of local laws.” Earlier this month, the State Department issued a
similar warning.
China has strongly denied that political
factors influenced its treatment of Schellenberg, who was found guilty of
participating in a ring that sought to smuggle more than 200 kilograms of
methamphetamine out of the port city of Dalian. China has a zero-tolerance
drugs policy, and there is precedent for China executing foreign nationals convicted
of trafficking.
But the timing of Schellenberg’s appeal
hearing in December and subsequent retrial shortly after the arrest of Huawei’s
Meng Wanzhou has been conspicuous, and the episode has left Canada caught in
the middle of a broader conflict between the United States and China that has
also dragged Canada-China ties to new lows.
“Over the years, there have been low points,
but nothing compared to this,” said Lynette H. Ong, an associate professor of
political science at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs.
“This is going to be perceived by the Canadian public as another tit-for-tat
strategy. It is going to be particularly bad because this country does not have
the death sentence.”
The standoff started with Meng’s Dec. 1
arrest in Canada on U.S. charges related to alleged violations of Iran
sanctions.
Days after Meng was apprehended in Vancouver,
Chinese authorities detained Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, two Canadians
living in China, on suspicion of endangering national security. Schellenberg’s
case came to light after that.
Schellenberg, 36, was arrested in 2014 and
was later sentenced to a 15-year prison term for smuggling methamphetamine.
His case went largely unnoticed until a
recent retrial where, amid the other arrests, prosecutors said new evidence
implicated the Vancouver native in a drug trafficking operation.
Earlier this month, the Chinese government
took the rare step of inviting foreign media to attend his appeal hearing —
prompting speculation that Beijing wanted to use Schellenberg’s case to exert
pressure on Ottawa to free Meng.
“The procedures in Mr. Schellenberg’s case
would be unusual even if he was a Chinese national. The fact that he is a
Canadian, combined with the welcoming of foreign media to view court proceedings,
makes it downright suspicious,” said Margaret Lewis, a law professor at Seton
Hall University.
The Dalian Intermediate People’s Court on
Monday announced Schellenberg’s new sentence in an online statement that
detailed how he conspired with three others to pack pellets of methamphetamine
in tires to ship to Australia.
Three foreign media outlets were again
invited by Chinese authorities to sit among 70 witnesses in the courtroom,
including Canadian diplomats, according to Agence France-Presse.
After a 12 hour-long trial — including breaks
— the court adjourned for an hour before a judge announced the sentence.
Schellenberg nodded and said he understood, an AFP reporter said on Twitter.
Schellenberg has the option of appealing
again within 10 days, the court said. His case is expected to be reviewed by
higher courts before the death sentence is carried out, a review process that
could drag on for years. He would be the first Canadian citizen executed by the
Chinese government, said John Kamm, a San Francisco-based activist who works to
free political prisoners in China. Kamm said the death sentence was issued
“with undue haste and on the basis of weak and circumstantial evidence.”
China’s Foreign Ministry has rejected
accusations that political motivations are driving the treatment of the
Canadian detainees, maintaining that their cases have been handled in
accordance with Chinese law.
But comments by the Chinese ambassador to
Canada, Lu Shaye, have appeared to acknowledge that Beijing took “self-defense”
actions in response to Meng’s arrest.
In an op-ed published last week in the Hill
Times, an Ottawa newspaper, the Chinese diplomat lashed out at “Western egotism
and white supremacy,” arguing that Canadians who criticized China’s treatment
of the Canadians were guilty of racism and double standards.
“To those people, China’s self-defense is an
offense to Canada,” Lu wrote.
The dispute puts Trudeau’s government in a
tough spot.
Earlier in his tenure, Trudeau seemed eager
to build a better relationship with China as part of a broader effort to
diversify Canada’s trading relationships and reduce the country’s reliance on
the United States.
Now, with stories about detained Canadians
dominating the domestic news cycle, he faces pressure to take a tough stand
with Beijing but has limited leverage when it comes to taking action, analysts
said.
Trudeau and other Canadian officials have
stressed that Meng’s arrest was made in accordance with the extradition
agreement between Canada and the United States and that her case must play out
according to Canadian law.
Unless U.S. officials decide not to proceed
with their case against Meng, she will probably remain in Canadian custody for
months, or even years, to come.
Rauhala reported from Washington.
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