China executes French man for drug trafficking

A French man sentenced to death in China in 2010 for drug trafficking has been executed, France's foreign ministry announced on Saturday.

Chan Thao Phoumy, a 62-year-old French national born in Laos, was executed in Guangzhou, the south of China.

France had attempted to get "a pardon on humanitarian grounds for our compatriot," the French foreign ministry said in a statement.

China's foreign ministry did not comment on the specifics of the case when asked on Sunday about the execution.

China says it 'treats all defendants equally, fairly'

"Cracking down on drug-related crime is a shared responsibility of all countries," a statement provided to AFP said.

China "treats defendants of different nationalities equally, handles cases strictly and fairly in accordance with the law and protects the lawful rights and treatment of the parties involved", it said.

China has stringent laws against drug trafficking. In the Asian country, the threshold for the death penalty is 50 grammes of heroin or methamphetamine, but trafficking in much larger amounts is ​generally what leads to execution.