US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says China’s death sentence against Canadian Robert Schellenberg is ‘politically motivated’
- Washington expresses concerns it shares with Canada about ‘arbitrary detentions and politically motivated sentencing of Canadian nationals’
- Canada calls China’s actions ‘a threat to all countries’ as it rallies allies, while reiterating proceedings against Huawei executive will be fair and transparent
The US State Department says China’s death sentence against a Canadian man is “politically motivated”.
Wednesday’s statement from US deputy spokesman Robert Palladino says that US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland spoke on Tuesday and “expressed their concerns about the arbitrary detentions and politically motivated sentencing of Canadian nationals”.
A Chinese court sentenced Robert Schellenberg to death in a sudden retrial of a drug-smuggling case on Monday.
Freeland and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have been talking to world leaders about Schellenberg’s case and the cases of two Canadians arrested in China in apparent retaliation for the December 1 arrest of Chinese Huawei executive Sabrina Meng Wanzhou.
Canada warns citizens about China’s ‘arbitrary enforcement of laws’ after drug smuggling death sentence
Canada arrested the daughter of Huawei’s founder at the request of the US, which wants her extradited to face charges that she misled banks about the company’s business dealings in Iran. Palladino said the Meng case also came up.