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Fan Chen

In a sign of warming China-Canada ties, Beijing has reversed a Canadian citizen’s death sentence and ordered a new trial, calling the judicial ruling “independent”.
The Supreme People’s Court, China’s highest judicial organ, on Friday overturned a death sentence against Robert Lloyd Schellenberg, who was detained in 2014 on suspicion of drug trafficking.
Asked to comment on the ruling during a regular press briefing on Monday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said that judicial authorities “independently adjudicated” the case and “rendered a verdict in accordance with the law”.
According to Agence France-Presse, a Canadian foreign ministry spokeswoman said the authorities were “aware of a decision” by the Chinese supreme court and that the ministry would continue to provide consular services to Schellenberg and his family.
“Canada has advocated for clemency in this case, as it does for all Canadians who are sentenced to the death penalty,” she said in a statement.
This comes about a year after four Canadian citizens were executed in China for drug-related crimes, as disclosed by Canada’s foreign minister last March.


The Schellenberg case has been a long-standing source of diplomatic friction between Beijing and Ottawa.
He was originally sentenced in 2018 to 15 years in prison, a term that prosecutors then argued was too lenient.
He later appealed against the ruling and received a death sentence, with all his personal property confiscated after a retrial in January 2019.
The Liaoning Higher People’s Court in northeastern China declared in the retrial that Schellenberg had been a critical part of a criminal group that trafficked drugs in several parts of the country, including Guangdong and Zhejiang provinces.
Schellenberg denied wrongdoing, and Canada strongly condemned the ruling as “arbitrary” when it was issued.
Schellenberg’s retrial took place weeks after the arrest in Vancouver of Meng Wanzhou, Huawei Technologies’ chief financial officer, in December 2018, which infuriated Beijing.
Days after Meng’s arrest, China detained two Canadians, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, and later charged them with espionage, plunging bilateral ties to rock bottom.
The stand-off halted top-level talks for years, only ending in 2021 when a deal with US prosecutors led to the release of all three.
The reversal of Schellenberg’s death sentence comes as Canada increasingly seeks to thaw relations with China, with both countries at odds with the US over tariffs imposed under President Donald Trump.
Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada paid a four-day visit to China last month, the first such trip by a Canadian leader since 2017.
Carney said the two countries were forging “a new strategic partnership”, after nearly a decade of “distant and uncertain” bilateral ties.
He also announced a series of deals and suggested that Beijing was a “more predictable” partner than Washington.
Carney outlined five areas of cooperation, including clean energy, agriculture, finance and people-to-people engagement.
The two sides have also agreed to remove trade barriers and tariffs, and Carney said Beijing was committed to “ensuring visa-free access for Canadians travelling to China”.


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Highest court orders new trial in ‘independent’ ruling amid warming China-Canada ties following Prime Minister Mark Carney’s visit


Highest court orders new trial in ‘independent’ ruling amid warming China-Canada ties following Prime Minister Mark Carney’s visit.


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Mark Carney

Meng Wanzhou

China overturns death sentence for Canadian convicted of drug smuggling

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Highest court orders new trial in ‘independent’ ruling amid warming China-Canada ties following Prime Minister Mark Carney’s visit

Highest court orders new trial in ‘independent’ ruling amid warming China-Canada ties following Prime Minister Mark Carney’s visit