Mao Ning profile photo Photo: official website of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs

In response to Canada's condemnation of China for executing Canadian citizens on drug-related charges, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on Thursday that China is a country that upholds the rule of law. The law treats everyone the same regardless of nationality. The Chinese judicial authorities handle those cases justly in strict accordance with the law, Mao added.

Combating drug-related crimes is the responsibility of all countries, Mao said. The lawful rights of the defendants and the consular rights of the Canadian side are fully protected as stipulated by the law. Canada should respect the spirit of the rule of law and stop interfering in China's judiciary sovereignty, she added.

Canada said on Wednesday that China had executed four Canadian citizens on drug smuggling charges earlier this year and "strongly condemned" Beijing's use of the death penalty, Reuters reported.

Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly told reporters that all four had dual citizens and said Ottawa would seek leniency for other Canadians facing the same fate, according to Reuters.

Chinese Embassy in Canada said in a statement China is a "rule of law" nation and that anyone convicted of breaking laws "must be held accountable," the Guardian reported on Wednesday. 

Drug-related crime is a severe crime recognized worldwide as extremely harmful to the society, and will be faced with severe penalties in all countries. China always imposes severe penalties on drug-related crimes and maintains a "zero tolerance" attitude towards the drug problem, the embassy was quoted as saying in the media report. It added that it had "solid and sufficient" evidence in all the cases in which prisoners were executed, according to the Guardian.

"Canada should be well aware of China's zero-tolerance policy on drugs and our related laws — this is common knowledge for any Chinese person," Lü Xiang, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Thursday. 

"While Canada's opposition to the death penalty is understandable from its perspective, using it to interfere with China's legal system and judicial decisions will not be tolerated," Lü noted. 

Drug trafficking is a felony offense in China. The maximum sentence for anyone convicted of selling or producing more than 50 grams of heroin is the death penalty, the Xinhua News Agency said. 

This is not the first drug case involving Canadians in China.

In January 2019, Canadian Robert Lloyd Schellenberg was sentenced to death by the Dalian Intermediate People's Court for smuggling more than 222 kilograms of methamphetamine, according to the website of the Ministry of Public Security. 

Also in 2019, the Jiangmen Intermediate People's Court in South China's Guangdong Province sentenced a Canadian to death for drug offences, the South China Morning Post reported. 

The Canadian individual, along with other defendants, were found guilty of setting up a drug factory in Taishan, where they produced more than 63 kilograms of methamphetamine and 365.9 grams of dimethylamphetamine between July and November 2012, according to the SCMP. 

Lü believed that the latest incident could be seen as a minor dispute between the two countries, which should not affect the overall China-Canada relations. "I think the Canadian government should focus on educating its own citizens about the serious risks involved in engaging in drug trafficking in China," he said.