China rejected Japan's call to reduce the penalty for...

China rejected Japan's call to reduce the penalty for a Japanese national sentenced to death for drug smuggling. Sources quoted the Chinese government as saying it would consider such a possibility if China-Japan relations were good, but that under current circumstances it could not give special treatment to the man. The defendant was reportedly caught in July 2003 at the airport in Dalian in China's Lianoning Province, while attempting to smuggle 1.25 kilograms of stimulant drugs to Japan. Japanese authorities had said he was the first Japanese national to be given the death penalty without suspension in China. It was also the first time a Japanese accused of a crime had received capital punishment abroad.