MANILA, Philippines — Chinese President Xi Jinping supposedly committed a crime within Philippine territory, putting him under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Former Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales stressed this on Friday to defend the complaint they recently filed before the ICC against China’s “atrocious actions” in the South China Sea.
Morales and former Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario filed the complaint, technically called a communication, on behalf Filipino fishermen who were “persecuted and injured” by China’s aggressive island-building and occupation in the West Philippine Sea.
READ: Ex-DFA chief Del Rosario, Morales sue China’s Xi at ICC
“The one who committed the crime does not have to belong to a country who is a state party to the ICC,” Morales said in a press briefing.
“We have jurisdiction over Mr. Xi because he committed the crime within Philippine territory,”
China is not a member of the ICC. But the communication was officially filed at the office of ICC Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda on March 15, just two days before the withdrawal of the Philippines from the Rome Statute – which created ICC – took effect. /ee