China's Liaoning Provincial High People's Court will accept and hear the case of appellant Robert Lloyd Schellenberg, a Canadian citizen, on drug smuggling charges this Saturday. It is reported that the amount of drugs that he allegedly smuggled would astonish the public if announced.



The trafficking of drugs is a felony in China, especially when the amount is enormous. According to Chinese laws, anyone caught smuggling no less than 50 grams of heroin or methyl Benzedrine or smuggling more than 1 kilogram of opium may face death penalty.



That's why the case has triggered large-scale debates over future fate of the Canadian. Yet how the debate goes on, felony is felony. Those who committed serious crimes in China are not entitled to mercy no matter where they came from.



Reports show that China seized 89.2 tons of drugs and solved 140,000 drug-related cases during 2017. "Over 5,500 drug production and trafficking gangs were busted, with 169,000 suspects arrested," said Xinhua News Agency. The figures mirrored Beijing's seriousness and accomplishments in anti-drug campaigns but also demonstrated the on-going threat of illegal drug trade and use that China is confronting.



Punishing harshly drug crimes showed China's zero-tolerance on drug offenses, which extends the same treatment to both Chinese citizens and foreigners who crossed the red line on Chinese soil. Only in this way can the nation effectively stop illegal drug trafficking outside its doorstep.



After British man Akmal Shaikh was arrested in China for entering the country carrying 4 kilograms of heroin in 2007, he was executed despite appeals from British government. However, many British netizens hailed the move and one of them noted "Well done China. It's a shame the UK doesn't have the same courage to deal with people like that." Hatred against drug traffickers is pretty much the same across the world.



Drug use is bringing about 500 billion yuan ($80 billion) direct economic losses annually in China. Crimes caused by drug abuse, such as suicide, self-destructing, sabotaging others, drug-driving and assaulting police occur from time to time.



A total of 362 policemen sacrificed their lives in cracking down on drug abuse in China in 2016, which means the country is losing one police every single day for drug crimes. When some people are still spending plenty of time talking about human right of drug smugglers, they are actually putting others lives, even the entire society at danger. When they care about the human right of those condemned criminals, what should people do to the human right of the victims and their families?



This is why China is resolutely fighting against drug traffickers, and why China still practices capital punishment against the crime. When the right of legal citizens can hardly be protected, any proposal to care about felons is equivalent to crimes.



China has not abolished the death penalty based on its own history and current conditions. It is China's sovereignty and Beijing has the right to enact and enforce its own laws. Chinese courts are exercising increasing prudence in giving death penalty, yet it won't give the wrongdoer a way out simply because the criminal is a foreigner.



