The Chinese government expressed its support of Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte’s decision to leave the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The government also called for ICC to respect the sovereignty of its members.
“China always maintains that the ICC should respect the sovereignty of nations, act cautiously and avoid being used as a political tool,” Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lu Kang said in a press briefing.
“China believes that a sovereign country has the right to say no to political manipulation under the cloak of law.”
Lu also said the international community should “support” and “understand” the Philippine administration’s efforts to fight drugs in the country.
Duterte announced on March 14 that the Philippines is withdrawing from the ICC, ordering it to be ‘effective immediately’.
Duterte cited that the basis for his decision is the “baseless, unprecedented and outrageous attacks” of the ICC against him and his war-on-drugs campaign, adding that the attempt of the ICC to place him under the tribunal’s jurisdiction as another reason.
“I therefore declare and forthwith give notice, as President of the Republic of the Philippines, that the Philippines is withdrawing its ratification of the Rome Statute effective immediately,” the President said in a statement.
Earlier, ICC conducted a “preliminary investigation” on Duterte’s war on drugs after a complaint was filed against the Philippine president due to high number of killings recorded during the campaign.
ICC clarified that the “investigation” was simply an examination to check if there are grounds to proceed with a deeper investigation.
Duterte, however, stressed that the ICC has no power over the Philippine government.
“You cannot acquire jurisdiction over me, not in a million years,” he emphasized.
