domestic media reports, examined by Chinese researchers, there were between 160 and 200 executions on this day in 2018 and 2019.17 Lawyers specialising in defending drug crimes have observed that compared with other criminal cases, the standards for providing sufficient evidence are lower in cases involving drug crimes. This may be partly due to lack of forensic knowledge of both police and judges. For example, one lawyer specialising in taking drug crime cases in Yunnan recalls a case in which the police weighed more than a dozen packets of drugs, and claimed that the total weight of the packets was 18 grams. However, the lawyer found that the scale used by the police could only detect a minimum weight of 2 grams. Only 1 of the 12 packets weighed over 2 grams. The lawyer argued in court that the weights must be incorrect and should not be accepted by the court. The lawyer recalls another case in which the police mixed several different types of drug into different bags when weighing, contaminating the evidence. They point to several other possible factors including the narrative promoted by the central government that drug control is a ‘people's war on drugs’, which is reflected in heavy sentences in the judicial system. Lawyers also allege that almost fifty percent of all drug crime cases will result in a death penalty sentence, including a two-year suspended death sentence. Robert Schellenberg, Canadian citizen, was first detained early December 2014, first tried on 15 March 2016, and on 20 November 2018 he was sentenced to 15 years in prison after being found guilty of planning to smuggle almost 225 kilos of crystal methamphetamine from China to Australia. He appealed his conviction and sentence; on 29 December 2018 Liaoning Higher People’s Court considered new evidence and ordered a re-trial on the grounds that the 15-year sentence was too lenient. On 15 January 2019, Dalian Intermediate People’s Court held a retrial and announced a guilty verdict and death sentence on the same day. There were a number of unusual aspects to the case including the decision to send the case back for retrial, the speed in which the retrial was scheduled after such a long delay between originally being tried and sentenced, and the announcement of the death sentence at the trial. The harsher sentencing coincided with Chinese pressure on Canada to release Meng Wanzhou, CFO of Chinese telecommunications company, Huawei, detained in Vancouver pending extradition to the United States. Schellenberg has appealed the death sentence, but the court has still not announced a judgement. On 8 May 2020, an appeal hearing for Schellenberg was held and no sentence was given. This came a day after a hearing in Canada for Meng Wanzhou. Since Schellenberg’s death sentence, there have been three further Canadians sentenced to death for drug offences in China, widely seen as retaliation for Meng Wanzhou’s case. National Security Offences Offences that relate to endangering national security are broadly defined in Chinese criminal law. In 2015, China passed a new National Security Law and in 2016 a new Counter-terrorism Law, as part of a wider set of laws and regulations covering national security. The laws include wide-ranging provisions on the use of cyberspace, physical space and outer space. The lack of clarity in defining 17 Private communication shared with authors. 18