China yesterday vociferously defended a court’s decision to impose the death penalty on a convicted Canadian drug smuggler, escalating a diplomatic row that experts say has descended into a high-stakes game of “hostage politics.”
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs blasted Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s “irresponsible remarks” after he criticized the death sentence imposed on 36-year-old Robert Lloyd Schellenberg.
Beijing and Ottawa have been squabbling since last month, when Canada arrested Huawei Technologies Co (華為) chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou (孟晚舟) on a US extradition request related to possible breaches of Iran sanctions.
Photo: Reuters
In a move that observers see as retaliatory, Chinese authorities detained two Canadian citizens — former diplomat Michael Kovrig and business consultant Michael Spavor — on suspicion of endangering national security.
Then authorities revisited the little-known case of Schellenberg, who was sentenced to 15 years in prison in November for drug offences. A month later, an upper court took up his appeal and ordered a hasty retrial in the northeastern city of Dalian after ruling that the punishment was too lenient.
The timing and swiftness of Schellenberg’s sentence, and the inclusion of new evidence presenting him as a key player in a plan to ship 222kg of methamphetamine to Australia, has raised suspicion among observers.
“Playing hostage politics, China rushes the retrial of a Canadian suspect and sentences him to death in a fairly transparent attempt to pressure Canada,” Human Rights Watch executive director Kenneth Roth tweeted.
Donald Clarke, a George Washington University professor specializing in Chinese law, coined an even grimmer term for the situation: “death threat diplomacy.”
“The Chinese government is not even trying to pretend that there was a fair trial here,” he said.
Trudeau expressed “extreme concern” that China had “chosen to arbitrarily” apply the death penalty, but Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Hua Chunying (華春瑩) denied that Beijing had politicized Schellenberg’s case, calling on Canada to “respect China’s judicial sovereignty ... and stop making such irresponsible remarks.”
Ottawa had issued a new travel advisory urging citizens to “exercise a high degree of caution in China due to the risk of arbitrary enforcement of local laws.” Beijing issued a similar response hours later, calling on Chinese citizens to “travel cautiously” after a Chinese citizen was “arbitrarily detained on the basis of a request of a third-party country,” an apparent reference to Meng’s arrest.
The court in Liaoning yesterday said its actions were “in compliance with the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Law,” the official Legal Daily reported.
China executes one or two foreigners every year — nearly all for drug offences, according to John Kamm, director of the US-based Dui Hua Foundation rights group.
Experts said retrials are rare in China, especially ones calling for a harsher sentence, but rights groups said that courts are not independent and can be influenced by the Chinese Communist Party.
“What’s unusual is how this case shifted from extremely slow handling to suddenly rapid fire movement,” Seton Hall University law professor Margaret Lewis said.
The rare decision to allow three foreign journalists to attend the hearing makes it “clear that the Chinese government wants [the] international spotlight on this case,” she added.
“The timing is suspect and certainly his nationality makes it all the more glaring,” she said.
QUIET START: Nearly a week after applications opened, agencies did not announce or promote the program, nor did they explain how it differed from other visitor visas Taiwan has launched a six-month “digital nomad visitor visa” program for foreign nationals from its list of visa-exempt countries who meet financial eligibility criteria and provide proof of work contracts. To apply, foreign nationals must either provide proof that they have obtained a digital nomad visa issued by another country or demonstrate earnings based on age brackets, the Bureau of Consular Affairs said. Applicants aged 20 to 29 must show they earned an annual salary of at least US$20,000 or its equivalent in one of the past two years, while those aged 30 or older must provide proof they earned US$40,000 in
AIR DEFENSE: The Norwegian missile system has proved highly effective in Ukraine in its war against Russia, and the US has recommended it for Taiwan, an expert said The Norwegian Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS) Taiwan ordered from the US would be installed in strategically important positions in Taipei and New Taipei City to guard the region, the Ministry of National Defense said in statement yesterday. The air defense system would be deployed in Taipei’s Songshan District (松山) and New Taipei City’s Tamsui District (淡水), the ministry said, adding that the systems could be delivered as soon as the end of this year. The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency has previously said that three NASAMS would be sold to Taiwan. The weapons are part of the 17th US arms sale to
SERIOUS ALLEGATIONS: The suspects formed spy networks and paramilitary groups to kill government officials during a possible Chinese invasion, prosecutors said Prosecutors have indicted seven retired military officers, members of the Rehabilitation Alliance Party, for allegedly obtaining funds from China, and forming paramilitary groups and assassination squads in Taiwan to collaborate with Chinese troops in a possible war. The suspects contravened the National Security Act (國家安全法) by taking photos and drawing maps of key radar stations, missile installations and the American Institute in Taiwan’s headquarters in Taipei, prosecutors said. They allegedly prepared to collaborate with China during a possible invasion of Taiwan, prosecutors said. Retired military officer Chu Hung-i (屈宏義), 62, a Republic of China Army Academy graduate, went to China
UNITY MESSAGE: Rather than focusing on what Trump said on the campaign trail about Taiwan, Taipei should be willing to engage with the US, Pompeo said Taiwan plays a key role in Washington’s model of deterrence against China, former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo said in a speech in Taipei yesterday. During US president-elect Donald Trump’s first term, “we had developed what we believe was a pretty effective model of deterrence against adversaries who wanted to undermine the set of rules and values that the people of Taiwan and the people of the US hold dear,” Pompeo said at a forum organized by the Formosa Republican Association. “Succeeding in continuing to build this model will not solely rest at the feet of president Trump and his team,
RSS