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A US navy ship anchored off Manila Bay, Philippines. Photo: AP

In Philippines, support mounts for South China Sea ‘crimes against humanity’ case against Xi Jinping

  • More than 25,000 people have signed a statement of support for former foreign secretary Albert del Rosario and former Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales, who want the International Criminal Court to examine whether China has carried out ‘crimes against humanity’
  • They say the country’s artificial island building has caused extensive environmental damage and has blocked 320,000 Filipinos from their fishing grounds
  • But China’s envoy says Beijing has no plans to respond to the complaint, which will not “stop the development of bilateral relations”
Public support is mounting behind two former Philippine officials who filed a complaint with the International Criminal Court accusing Chinese President Xi Jinping of “crimes against humanity” for his country’s actions in the South China Sea.

A “Statement of Support” for former foreign secretary Albert del Rosario and former Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales had gained more than 25,000 signatures as of Tuesday afternoon, despite the presidential palace having dismissed the action as “futile”. The boost for the former officials came even as China’s envoy in the Philippines said Beijing had no plans to respond to the complaint, which would “not stop the development of bilateral ties”.

The Philippine former foreign secretary Albert del Rosario and former Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales. Photo: AP

The pair claim China’s artificial island building in the South China Sea has caused extensive environmental damage and has blocked large numbers of fishermen, including about 320,000 Filipinos, from their fishing grounds. They say the impact on the Filipino fishermen constitutes a “crime against humanity” under the Rome Statute.

Chinese President Xi Jinping. Photo: Reuters
The complaint was filed last week, just days before Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte withdrew his country from the ICC, and it is unclear what effect even a sympathetic ruling would have on either Manila or Beijing. In 2016, Beijing ignored the Permanent Court of Arbitration when it sided with the Philippines in another case brought by del Rosario, ruling that China had “no historical rights” to the territory within its “nine-dash line” that it uses to claim sovereignty over the vast majority of the sea.

Still, the development will be embarrassing for Duterte, who came into power soon after the 2016 ruling – seen as a nadir in Philippine-China relations – and has spent much political capital in abandoning the China-scepticism of his predecessor Benigno Aquino III and wooing Beijing at the expense of his country’s traditional ally, the United States. Cooperation between China and the Philippines has been especially strong this year, according to Nie Wenjuan, associate professor of international relations at China Foreign Affairs University, who noted that President Duterte would visit China for the Belt and Road Summit next month, while the economic management team from the Philippines cabinet visited last week.

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WILL IT MAKE A DIFFERENCE?

Despite Duterte’s disapproval, the move by Del Rosario and Carpio-Morales is steadily gaining support. Philippine Vice-President Leni Robredo said she was “delighted … because we have reached a point where we’re losing hope. We were continuously being occupied. At least with this, there are people who have the courage to bring the issue to the authorities”. And Senator Panfilo Lacson praised the complaint as a “patriotic move … that deserves the support of every freedom-loving Filipino whose duty is to protect and preserve our country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity”.

Meanwhile, Del Rosario and Carpio-Morales say a directive issued by the ICC Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda in 2016 is likely to strengthen their present case. That directive had said the office would prioritise crimes that resulted in, among other things, “the destruction of the environment”.

Some experts agree that directive gives the former officials reason for hope. Jay Batongbacal, who heads the College of Law Institute for Maritime Affairs and Law of the Sea at the University of the Philippines, said Bensouda’s directive indicated “an interest in pursuing cases of environmental aggression used to perpetrate crimes within the jurisdiction of the ICC”.

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“That is the starting point,” said Batongbacal. “That is why it has a chance with the prosecutor.”

Elena Collinson, a senior researched at the Australia-China Relations Institute, University of Technology Sydney, agreed. “There is scope for the ICC to take up the case, depending on its framing,” she said.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. Photo: EPA

Del Rosario and Carpio-Morales argue that the plight of the fishermen falls under Bensouda’s directive by pointing to evidence given at the 2016 tribunal. In particular, they cite a report by fisheries expert John McManus, which warned that because of China’s artificial island building, “what we’re looking at [in the South China Sea] is potentially one of the world’s worst fisheries collapses ever … We’re talking hundreds and hundreds of species that will collapse, and they could collapse relatively quickly, one after another”.

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Del Rosario and Carpio-Morales include in their latest complaint affidavits from Filipino fishermen previously submitted in the 2016 arbitral ruling. In one of them, fisherman Jowe Legaspi claims that China’s blockade in the Scarborough Shoal has cost him almost 60 per cent of his yearly income. “Of my eight boats only one is remaining because I have to sell them to pay for my debts,” he says.

‘MORE SYMBOLIC’

Even so, many are sceptical that the complaint by the two former officials will result in any concrete action.

Collinson at the Australia-China Relations Institute said there would probably be no impact on the China-Philippines relationship, noting that Duterte and the Philippine government had emphasised the pair were acting in their capacity as private citizens. She said this “swift and unsympathetic statement” would “reassure Beijing”.

She also said the action appeared “to be more of a symbolic move.”

The Philippine navy ship BRP Gregorio del Pilar runs aground in the vicinity of Half Moon Shoal, off the disputed Spratlys Group of islands in the South China Sea, in 2018. Photo: AP

Nie at China Foreign Affairs University said the move was “generally ridiculous”.

“This behaviour does not benefit the national interest of the Philippines, and is not conducive to the resolution of the South China Sea issue,” she said, noting that the current negotiations between the two parties over their dispute in the South China Sea was ongoing and developing positively.

Chargé d’Affaires Tan Qingsheng of the Chinese Embassy in Manila told state-run Philippine News Agency that the actions of Del Rosario and Carpio-Morales did not “represent the views of the Philippine government and people” and would not “stop the development of bilateral relations”.

The state news agency also quoted Tan as saying that China had no plans to respond to the complaint.

“China’s position will remain consistent regardless of the noise,” said Nie. “A positive relationship between the two countries is consistent with their common goals. Some occasional noise will not change the development of this historical trend.”

Batongbacal, at the University of the Philippines, said that persuading the ICC that Chinese officials had committed serious crimes against Filipino fishermen would be a long and tedious process fraught with uncertainty. He said there would also be issues regarding the court’s jurisdiction over inhabitants of states not party to the ICC, like China. He noted that the Office of the Prosecutor was looking at a “similar” situation involving whether American soldiers accused of crimes in Afghanistan could be investigated even though the US was not a signatory to the Rome Convention.

Asked whether China could simply ignore this latest action before the ICC, Batongbacal replied, “I really don’t know. Based on their pattern of behaviour they’re sure to try to ignore it. The way they ignore things is so active.”

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: xi ‘Crimes a gain st humanit y’ claim gaining supp o rt
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