Key points
- We strongly condemn the executions: Canada
- Canadians had been convicted over narcotics offenses: China
- China treats defendants of different nationalities equally: Mao Ning
BEIJING: China said on Thursday it acted “in accordance with the law” despite protests from Canada over the execution of four Canadian citizens in recent weeks.
Canada’s Foreign Minister Melanie Joly told reporters in Ottawa on Wednesday that China had executed four Canadian citizens in recent weeks, defying pleas from Ottawa for leniency.
“We strongly condemn the executions that did happen against Canadians in China,” Joly said.
She said she was unable to discuss details of the case due to privacy requests from the affected families.
Narcotics offenses
However, Beijing suggested on Thursday that Canadians had been convicted over narcotics offenses, saying “… combating drug crimes is the common responsibility of all countries”.
“China is a country under the rule of law,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said.
Beijing, she said, “treats defendants of different nationalities equally without discrimination” and “handles cases fairly in strict accordance with the law”.
China “protects the legitimate rights of the parties concerned as well as the consular rights of the Canadian side, in accordance with the law”, Mao said.
Defending the executions
Beijing also defended the executions in a statement sent to Canada’s Globe and Mail newspaper.
“Drug-related crime is a severe crime recognised worldwide as extremely harmful to the society,” the embassy statement said.
“China always imposes severe penalties on drug-related crimes and maintains a ‘zero tolerance’ attitude towards the drug problem.”
Joly said she and former prime minister Justin Trudeau, who left office last week, had asked China for leniency.
Beijing said this week a former Chinese engineer had recently been sentenced to death for leaking state secrets to a foreign power.
Tense relations
Relations between Beijing and Ottawa have been tense in recent years.
The arrest of a senior Chinese telecom executive on a US warrant in Vancouver in December 2018 and Beijing’s retaliatory detention of two Canadians on espionage charges plunged relations into a deep freeze.
Ties were strained further over allegations of Chinese interference in Canadian elections in 2019 and 2021, charges Beijing has denied.
China’s embassy in Ottawa has confirmed the executions of four dual Canadian-Chinese citizens for drug offenses, according to Al Jazeera.
