Beijing: China has hit back at Australian criticism of the death sentence handed to a Canadian man for the attempted smuggling of 200 kilograms of methamphetamine, calling it "strange".

"The smuggled drugs were going to be sent to Australia. You should ask the Australian officials if they were happy to see these drugs being imported into their country," Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters on Wednesday afternoon.

She said China's memory of the dangers of drugs was still fresh after 1840 and the Opium War.

The Canadian government has appealed for clemency for Robert Lloyd Schellenberg, who received the death penalty on Monday shortly after a one-day retrial at a Dalian court.