China challenges Canberra commitment to fighting drug smuggling

China slams Simon Birmingham for arguing against death penalty for a Canadian convicted of drug smuggling.

Simon Birmingham has criticised the death penalty for a Canadian convicted of drug smuggling.

China has challenged the federal government’s commitment to fighting drug smuggling as it hit out at comments made by acting Foreign Minister Simon Birmingham arguing against the death penalty for a Canadian trying to smuggle drugs from China to Australia.

“Does the Australian side wish to see this large batch of drugs arrive in its land and endanger its people?” China’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Hua Chunying, said at the Ministry’s daily press conference.

Ms Hua said Senator Birmingham owed an explanation to the Australian people for his call for Canadian Robert Lloyd Schellenberg not to be given the death penalty for his involvement in a drug ring which planned to smuggle 222kg of methamphetamine from China into Australia in 2014.

Mr Schellenberg was sentenced to 15 years jail for his offence but the sentence was upgraded to the death penalty this week following a retrial in December.

He was part of a ring which was planning to smuggle drugs into Australia from the port city of Dalian, in north east China, in pellets in car tyres.

“Does he (Senator Birmingham) wish to see these drugs find their way into his country?” Ms Hua said.

She said she found it “odd” that the acting Australian Foreign Minister had spoken out against Mr Schellenberg receiving the death penalty.

“Does it have anything to do with Australia?” she asked.

Canada has been lobbying hard for the international community to support its appeal for clemency for Mr Schellenberg whose death sentence has come amid increasing tensions in the wake of Canada’s arrest of Huawei’s chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou as she

transited through Vancouver airport on December 1.

Now out on bail, Ms Meng is due to return to court in Vancouver on February 6 to face a hearing on her potential extradition to the US to face charges that she violated US sanctions on doing business with Iran.

Speaking on the ABC yesterday, Senator Birmingham said the Federal Government was “deeply concerned with this case, as we are in a consistent way wherever the death penalty is applied.”

“We expect at a level of principle that, not only the death penalty should not be applied but also, wherever people are in trouble, the rule of law ought to be applied fairly,” he said.

China has been angry at the criticism of the death sentence by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau who called it “arbitrary.”

Ms Hua said Canada could “count on the fingers of one hand” how few allies had chosen to side with Canada on this issue.

“These several countries by no means represent the entire international community,” she said.

“For serious crimes posing great harm to the society, like drug smuggling, I believe it is the international consensus that such crimes can be strictly handled and punished.”

She said the Canadian people wanted their government to support action taken against drug smuggling which was needed to protect people’s lives.

Ms Hua said it was “highly irresponsible” for the Canadian Prime Ministry to describe the sentence against Mr Schellenberg as “arbitrary”.

She said the Dalian Intermediate People’s Court, which handed down the sentence on Monday, had made its determination after strictly following Chinese criminal law.

“Nothing, procedure wise, has deviated from the law,” she said.

Since Ms Meng’s arrest, China has detained some 13 Canadians in China with two still in jail on accusations that they have endangered China’s national security.

The two men – Michael Kovrig, a former diplomat who now works as an analyst and researcher for European based think tank, the International Crisis Group, and Michael Spavor, a businessman with extensive ties to North Korea, are still in jail in China following their

arrests on December 10.

A teacher, Sarah McIver, who was accused of violating her work visa, has returned to Canada.

The Canadian government has said that another 10 Canadians had also been detained in China since Ms Meng’s arrest but has not given any more details except to say that most of them have since been released.

Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland issued a statement this week warning Canadians to “use

a high degree of caution before travelling to China” as

that they could face arbitrary enforcement of local laws.

“It is a complicated and difficult moment in our

relationship with China,” Freeland said.