A Chinese court Tuesday rejected a Canadian drug convict’s appeal of a death sentence in what appeared to be an effort to step up pressure on Canada to release a detained executive of tech giant Huawei. In separate cases, two other Canadians, a former diplomat and an entrepreneur, were arrested on spying charges as China demanded Meng’s release. Advertisement“We condemn the verdict in the strongest possible terms and call on China to grant Robert clemency,” the Canadian ambassador to Beijing, Dominic Barton, told reporters. Former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig and entrepreneur Michael Spavor were detained in China in December 2018 and later charged with spying. The Chinese government has criticized the case as a politically motivated attempt to hamper the country’s industrial development.

Source: Los Angeles Times August 10, 2021 05:03 UTC