Trudeau’s megaphone diplomacy a non-starter
- The Canadian prime minister’s condemnation of China’s ‘arbitrary’ justice and the death penalty handed down to a convicted drug smuggler from Canada has made it virtually impossible for Chinese authorities to back down
Canadian Robert Lloyd Schellenberg may wish to have someone other than his prime minister to fight for his life. After the convicted drug smuggler was sentenced to death on appeal, Justin Trudeau made a high-profile statement condemning China’s “arbitrary” justice and its death penalty. In doing so, he has made it virtually impossible for Chinese authorities to back down.
“It is of extreme concern to us as a government, as it should be to all our international friends and allies, that China has chosen to begin to arbitrarily apply the death penalty as it is in this case facing a Canadian,” he said. To reinforce his message, Ottawa issued a travel warning to Canadians with the statement: “Chinese authorities apply, sometimes arbitrarily, the death penalty for both violent and non-violent crimes.”
China ‘is not politicising’ Canadian drug smuggler it sentenced to death
Trudeau’s megaphone diplomacy is not helping anyone, least of all Schellenberg, who was convicted twice on possession and trafficking back in Canada. His sentencing judge in British Columbia, who jailed him for two years in 2012, had already warned him: “Your country deserves much better from you. You are in one of the best places in the world to live.”
His Chinese lawyer claimed he was framed. If so, it was a very elaborate scam. He was caught as part of a gang trying to ship 222kg of methamphetamine from Guangdong to Dalian by concealing them in tyres and tubing via containers on route to Australia.
Not every Canadian currently detained in China is an innocent caught up in Beijing’s revenge for Canada’s detention of senior Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou. Unfortunately, Trudeau has helped link the two cases in the Canadian public mind.
Whether or not you believe in capital punishment, China is not the only Asian country that executes drug smugglers, including foreigners. Trudeau adds insult to injury by suggesting Schellenberg’s death sentence was arbitrary and then calling on Western allies to join him in his denunciation. If there is anything Beijing hates, it’s being rounded on by Western powers with their moral condemnation.
It was left to Canadian foreign minister Chrystia Freeland to “clarify” that Canada opposes the death penalty in general, not just China’s. To reboot, Ottawa needs to de-escalate and delink the two cases of Meng and Schellenberg, and stop making the latter an international diplomatic incident.
Quiet respectful diplomacy works much better with Beijing than shouting holier-than-thou criticism in front of TV cameras.
