Global Affairs Canada is condemning China after the country executed an unspecified number of Canadian citizens earlier this year in an act that violates “basic human dignity.”
Spokesperson Charlotte MacLeod told CBC News in an email that Canada had “repeatedly called for clemency for these individuals at the senior-most levels.”
She said Canada “remains steadfast in its opposition to the use of the death penalty in all cases, everywhere.”
MacLeod said the federal department is continuing to provide consular assistance to the families of those who were executed, but would not provide the identities of the victims, or how many of them there were.
China’s embassy in Ottawa defended the executions on Wednesday, telling CBC News in an email that “whoever violates the law of China must be held accountable in accordance with the law.”
The embassy would not provide the names of the executed Canadians or the specific crimes they were alleged to have committed, beyond that they were “drug related.”
It also declined to say how many Canadians were killed.
“China always imposes severe penalties on drug-related crimes and maintains a ‘zero-tolerance’ attitude toward the drug problem,” the embassy said. “The facts of the crimes committed by the Canadian nationals involved in the cases are clear, and the evidence is solid and sufficient.”
The embassy said the cases were handled “in strict accordance with the law” and that the rights and interests of the Canadians were “fully guaranteed.”
Canada-China relations remain sour
China’s embassy pushed back against Global Affairs Canada’s condemnation of the executions and said Canada should accept the decisions made by China’s judicial system if it wants to improve ties between the two countries.
“We urge the Canadian side to respect the rule of law and China’s judicial sovereignty, stop making irresponsible remarks, work in the same direction with China and jointly promote the improvement and development of China-Canada relations with concrete actions,” the embassy said.
Relations between Canada and China have been strained since the December 2018 detention of Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor by Beijing, on vague national security allegations.
Their arrests were widely seen as retaliation for the Vancouver arrest of Huawei’s chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, just days before, at the behest of the U.S. to face fraud charges related to American sanctions against Iran.
Although all three were released in 2021, the two countries have continued to butt heads.
Michael Kovrig, one of the ‘Two Michaels’ held by China for more than 1,000 days, says Ottawa ‘was not prepared’ for his detention. Margaret McCuaig-Johnston, a board member of the China Strategic Risks Institute, explains to Canada Tonight what the government could’ve done better. Guy Saint-Jacques, the former Canadian ambassador to China, also describes the conditions of Chinese detention.
Kovrig told CBC News that China’s statement should be viewed as “empty propaganda” because China itself “doesn’t respect the rule of law.”
Now a private citizen, Kovrig said Wednesday that China’s executions show “both a callous disregard for human life and human rights, and also indifference to the views of other countries.”
He said there are about 100 Canadians currently being held in China (a number that GAC confirms as accurate) and that Canada has to act strategically if it wants to get them back unharmed.
“China’s government is not sincerely interested in improving bilateral relations,” he said. “We have to be relentless in insisting on consular access and calling for clemency. Advocate for them in every discussion.”
Using trade as leverage
“Make clear there will be no progress on any trade and investment opportunities until there is progress on human rights problems,” Kovrig added. “Condition any progress on things China wants on [them] refraining from arbitrary detention and imposing the death penalty.”
On Thursday, China is expected to institute 100 per cent tariffs on Canadian canola, along with 25 per cent tariffs on other goods like seafood and pork.
The Chinese tariffs come in response to Canada’s 100 per cent tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles and a 25 per cent levy on Chinese aluminum and steel products imposed on Oct. 1.
Kovrig suggests Canada co-ordinate its pressure on China with like-minded states.
“If enough other countries call on China to refrain from doing things, and impose costs, the chances of changing behaviour are higher,” he said.
Canadian Robert Lloyd Schellenberg was sentenced in November 2018 to a 15-year prison term in China over allegations of drug smuggling.
Schellenberg has been accused of conspiring with others to smuggle 222 kilograms of methamphetamine from China to Australia in 2014. Although he has proclaimed his innocence, the B.C. native has a history of drug-related offences in Canada, including a two-year sentence in 2012 for drug trafficking.
In January 2019, Canada reached out to China’s ambassador to Canada to ask for clemency for Schellenberg. But early that year, about a month after Meng was detained, Schellenberg was retried and sentenced to death. He does not appear to be one of the Canadians that were executed.
“Canada continues to advocate for clemency for Robert Schellenberg and provides him and his family consular assistance,” MacLeod said.
In the meantime, Kovrig says Canadians need to understand there are serious risks involved in travelling to China and while the “likelihood of anything happening is low … the results could be personally catastrophic.”
‘A clear, disturbing development’
Vina Nadjibulla, the vice-president of research and strategy at the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, said the executions are a “deeply troubling development.
“The execution of foreigners is extremely rare even in the Chinese criminal justice system which has a 99 per cent conviction rate and carries out more executions than any other country in the world,” she said.
Nadjibulla said the last time China executed a foreign citizen was more than 10 years ago, and this decision by China, despite Canada’s efforts to secure clemency through diplomatic means, suggests the two countries are still very far apart.
“For those people who were hoping that in the current climate China may wish to strengthen relations with Canada, may wish to deepen partnerships, this shows that that is really not the case,” she said. “This is a clear, disturbing development in the bilateral relationship.”
