China urges Canada to respect law over death sentence

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China's Foreign Ministry on Tuesday expressed strong dissatisfaction after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused China of "arbitrarily" sentencing a Canadian to death for drug smuggling, slamming the remark for lacking "basic spirit of rule of law".

Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying made the remarks at a regular daily briefing and urged Canada to stop making irresponsible remarks.

"Drug crimes are recognized as serious crimes in the world and are extremely hazardous to society. Every country cracks down on such crime, so does China," Hua said. "All are equal before the law, that's the spirit of rule of law."

"We urge Canada to respect rule of law, Chinese judicial sovereignty and stop making irresponsible remarks," Hua said.

Robert Lloyd Schellenberg, a Canadian citizen was sentenced to death on Monday for drug smuggling over 222 kilograms of methamphetamine in China in 2014.

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According to Intermediate People's Court of Dalian City in northeast China's Liaoning Province, which handed down the sentencing, Schellenberg's properties will also be confiscated.

China's Foreign Ministry, and Chinese embassy and consulates in Canada on Tuesday also issued a statement, asking Chinese citizens to "travel cautiously" to Canada and fully assess the risks of it based on their own situations following a case of Chinese citizen being arbitrarily detained on the basis of a request of a third-party country.