Australia has expressed deep concerns with China sentencing a Canadian man to death for drug smuggling.
Robert Lloyd Schellenberg has been sentenced to execution for allegedly attempting to smuggle 222kg of methamphetamine from China to Australia in 2014.
"We are deeply concerned with this case as we are in a consistent way wherever the death penalty is applied," Acting Foreign Minister Simon Birmingham told ABC Radio National on Wednesday.
"We expect at a level of principle that not only the death penalty should not be applied but also wherever people are in trouble the rule of law ought be applied fairly."
The death sentence has deepened tensions between China and Canada, with the two countries at odds for the past two months.
In early December Canadian police arrested Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of Huawei Technologies Co Ltd.
Days later, China detained two Canadians on suspicion of endangering state security - former diplomat Michael Kovrig and business consultant Michael Spavor.
