China on Wednesday hit back at a Canadian official's accusations of China over sentencing a Canadian drug smuggler to death, saying the case must be handled in accordance with Chinese law since it happened in China.

This photograph taken and released by the Intermediate Peoples' Court of Dalian on January 14, 2019 shows Canadian Robert Lloyd Schellenberg (C) during his retrial on drug trafficking charges in the court in Dalian in China's northeast Liaoning province. [File photo: Handout/AFP]

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying made the remarks when asked for comments on Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland's remarks accusing the death sentence handed down to Robert Lloyd Schellenberg, a Canadian national convicted of smuggling over 222 kg of methamphetamines, as "inhumane and inappropriate."

"If the death penalty is inhumane and inappropriate, is it humane and appropriate to let more people lose their lives to drugs?" Hua said. "Even the Canadian people believe that smuggling over 222 kg of methamphetamines is a very serious crime."

Recalling the Chinese people's painful memories of drug use after the First Opium War (1840-1842), she stressed that "China will not allow any drug smugglers from any country to harm the lives of Chinese people."

"The case occurs in China, it must be handled in accordance with Chinese law," she added.

The sentence by the Chinese judicial organ is just, and Canadian officials' relevant remarks are obviously "arbitrary", Hua said, expressing the hope that "the Canadian side would respect the rule of law and China's judicial sovereignty."

Schellenberg was sentenced to death on charges of drug smuggling on Monday by the Dalian Intermediate People's Court in northeast China's Liaoning Province. According to reports, Schellenberg was sentenced for possession of and trafficking drugs in 2003 and in 2012 respectively in Canada.