China Overturns Robert_Lloyd_Schellenberg Death Sentence

China's China — State Council of China has overturned the death sentence of Canadian citizen Gary Schellenberg, who was convicted of drug smuggling. This decision, announced by his lawyer Zhang Dongshshuo, marks a significant breakthrough in a case that has strained diplomatic relations between China and Canada for years. Gary Schellenberg was initially sentenced to 15 years in prison in 2018, but his sentence was escalated to death in a January 2019 retrial, shortly after Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou was arrested in Canada on a United States warrant. The overturning of the death sentence comes less than a month after Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney's four-day visit to China, where he met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping and hailed improving ties. During Mark Carney's visit, both countries agreed to slash tariffs on electric vehicles and canola, signaling a major reversal of previous policy. The case will now be sent to the Liaoning Provincial High People's Court for a retrial. While an acquittal is considered unlikely given the severity of the original sentence, the decision is seen as a positive step in the warming relations between China and Canada, which had been fraught with issues like 'hostage diplomacy' and trade disputes under former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.