Former Philippine officials accuse Chinese President Xi Jinping of crimes against humanity at International Criminal Court

Former Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario and chief anti-corruption prosecutor Conchita Carpio Morales said they filed the complaint last week

They accuse Xi and other officials of causing extensive environmental damage and undermining food security by building islands in South China Sea

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Chinese President Xi Jinping. Photo: Reuters

Published: 8:57pm, 21 Mar 2019Updated: 3:21pm, 13 Dec 2019

Two former Philippine officials have taken the bold step of filing a complaint with the International Criminal Court accusing Chinese President Xi Jinping of crimes against humanity over his government’s assertive actions in the disputed South China Sea, which they say have deprived thousands of fishermen of their livelihood and destroyed the environment.

Former Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario and chief anti-corruption prosecutor Conchita Carpio Morales said on Thursday that they filed the complaint with the tribunal last week, before the current Philippine president’s move to withdraw the country from the tribunal took effect last weekend.

Albert del Rosario with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who was named as a ‘perpetrator’ in the complaint. Photo: Reuters

They accused Xi and other Chinese officials of turning seven disputed reefs into islands in a massive engineering feat, causing extensive environmental damage, and of blocking large numbers of fishermen, including about 320,000 Filipinos, from their fishing grounds.

“This has seriously undermined the food and energy security of the coastal states in the South China Sea, including the Philippines,” del Rosario and Carpio Morales said in a statement.

China’s island building, which started in 2013 in an effort to construct air and naval bases in the disputed waters, reportedly destroyed large expanses of coral reefs and endangered fisheries. “It presents one of the most massive, near permanent and devastating destruction of the environment in humanity’s history,” they said