HONG KONG — A Chinese court on Tuesday upheld the death sentence of a Canadian man convicted of drug trafficking, one of several legal cases that have driven a diplomatic rift between Beijing and Ottawa. But in 2019 he was handed a death sentence in a one-day retrial, one month after the Canadian authorities arrested Meng Wanzhou, an executive with a Chinese telecommunications equipment company. The court’s ruling on Mr. Schellenberg’s appeal came as Ms. Meng’s case in Canada was entering a critical phase. The arrest of Ms. Meng, the chief financial officer of Huawei, sharply increased tensions between Canada and China. Shortly after Ms. Meng was arrested, two Canadians — the former diplomat Michael Kovrig and the businessman Michael Spavor — were detained in China on charges of espionage.

Source: International New York Times August 10, 2021 03:34 UTC