Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison is urging China to engage in dialogue over an Australian man who has been sentenced to death in that country for drug trafficking.
Prime Minister Morrison said Monday in Parliament that he and his government were “very sad and concerned” about the sentence handed down last week on Karm Gillespie, an actor turned investment advisor.
Chinese media said Gillespie was arrested at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport in December 2013, carrying more than 7.5 kilograms of methamphetamines in his checked luggage.
Morrison said his country’s opposition to the death penalty is “bipartisan, multipartisan, unanimous, principled, consistent and well-known.” The prime minister said Australian diplomats will provide consular services to Gillespie and will engage Beijing on the issue.
China is Australia's largest trading partner and sends a large number of students to Australia, as well as tourists. But relations have deteriorated in recent months over Australia’s recent call for an international probe into the origins of the novel coronavirus pandemic, which was first detected late last year in the central Chinese city of Wuhan.
Beijing has imposed a handful of bans and tariffs on Australian agricultural products, and has urged Chinese students to reconsider traveling to Australia out of fear they could be subjected to racism.
But Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian told reporters Monday that Gillespie’s case was unrelated to the current state of diplomatic relations with Australia.
Gillespie’s family has issued a statement saying they are “very saddened by the situation” and urging his friends and acquaintances from speculating about the case" which we do not believe assists his case.”
