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China: Fuck you Great Britain! We will execute drug smugglers if we wish.
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China has warned Britain that it must stop its fierce condemnation of the execution of Shaikh for drug smuggling, or risk harming diplomatic ties between the two countries.
The official statement from the Chinese embassy said the "strong resentment" felt by the Chinese public to drug traffickers was in part based on "the bitter memory of history".
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Jonathan Fenby, the author of The Penguin History of Modern China, said it was a reference to the two Opium Wars fought between China and Great Britain and its allies in the middle of the 19th century and the wider opium trade.
"It is one of those historical events that is still brought up," he said.
"How much your average Chinese person would think about it I'm not sure but it would be taught in Chinese schools for instance."
The trade in opium, often grown in India, boomed in China despite efforts to ban it with large amounts of the drugs being shipped into the country by British merchants.
Attempts by the Chinese government to disrupt the trade were met with force and Britain twice went to war to protect its stranglehold on the market and expand its reach into a country which had been closed off to western influence.
British merchants forced the Chinese to grant them access to Chinese ports and won the right for their citizens to be exempt from Chinese law.
Mr Fenby said: "The unequal treaties, as they became known, caused a great deal of resentment in late 19th century and 20th century China among Chinese nationalists.
"They would inveigh against the foreigners who came in and spread opium in China and the presence of the foreigners was blamed for the bad state China was in.
"If you spoke to the average 20 or 30-something Chinese person they would say the British forced us to take opium. It is established as part of the historical story."
Shaikh's execution has provoked strong criticism from Gordon Brown, the British Prime Minister, who said in a statement that he was “appalled”.
Government ministers repeatedly called on China to show clemency because Shaikh was believed to suffer from severe bipolar disorder.
On Tuesday, a spokesman for China’s foreign ministry expressed China’s anger at the British Government’s response to the death sentence.
“Nobody has the right to speak ill of China’s judicial sovereignty,” said spokeswoman Jiang Yu.
“We express strong dissatisfaction and resolute opposition over the groundless British accusations. We hope that the British side can view this matter rationally and not create new obstacles in bilateral relations.”
Shaikh was executed by lethal injection at 10.30am local time on Tuesday (230am GMT) at the Xishan Detention Centre in Urumqi, in the far west of China.
Since Shaikh was arrested at Urumqi airport with four kilos of heroin in September 2007, China denied repeated requests for him to be examined by a doctor. His family insist he was tricked into carrying the drugs by a criminal gang.
The Chinese Embassy in London defended its failure to evaluate Shaikh, who was from Kentish Town, north London.
In a statement, it said the 53-year-old father of five had no “previous medical record” of mental illness and that his “rights and interests were properly respected and guaranteed”.
China has a zero tolerance policy towards drug smugglers, whether Chinese or foreign. It is also extremely sensitive towards any attempts to interfere in what it regards as its internal affairs. Beijing was infuriated earlier this month when Ed Miliband, the British Environment Secretary, said China had “hijacked” the failed Copenhagen summit.
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