Harry Roque says ex-Pres Duterte seeking asylum in China ‘impossible’

Former Palace spokesperson Harry Roque talks to journalists outside the International Criminal Court (ICC) ahead of the hearing of former Philippines’ President Rodrigo Duterte in The Hague on March 14, 2025. (Photo by Nicolas TUCAT / AFP)

MANILA, Philippines — It would be “impossible” for former President Rodrigo Duterte to seek asylum in China and Hong Kong, former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said on Friday.

Roque noted that China did not implement the 1951 Convention on the Rights of Refugees and Asylum Seekers.

“It would be impossible for Tatay Digong to apply there because there is no machinery for the application of asylum in China and Hong Kong,”  Roque said in a Facebook post in Filipino.

Roque remarked as GMA News reported that Duterte tried to seek asylum before he was arrested by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Vice President Sara Duterte previously denied that Duterte sought asylum to China.

READ: Duterte did not seek asylum to China – VP

Before his arrest, Duterte visited Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China to grace an event of the PDP-Laban.

Duterte was arrested at Ninoy Aquino International Airport on Tuesday, March 11 and has since been detained at the ICC.

The drug war that took place during Duterte’s presidential term which claimed at least 6,000 lives, according to official government data.

But human rights watchdogs and the ICC prosecutor estimated the death toll to be between 12,000 and 30,000 from 2016 to 2019, as they noted that many of these incidents were extrajudicial killings.