Can China grant asylum? Beijing says they didn’t get Duterte’s application

A day before the International Criminal Court (ICC) allowed the continuation of the probe into drug war and supposed Davao Death Squad killings under Rodrigo Duterte, Chinese President Xi Jinping made a big splash by meeting the former president at the Diaoyutai State Guest House in Beijing.

This was back in July 2023 — a year into the Ferdinand Marcos Jr. administration, and the start of what would be the Philippines’ eventual turn back to Washington after six years of Duterte trying to bring Manila closer to Beijing. 

Almost two years later, and with a radically different domestic political landscape, China wants itself clear of any talk of “asylum,” as the former president he faces charges of crimes against humanity before the ICC. 

Duterte, whose clan has controlled Davao City and the bigger Davao Region for nearly four decades and who was president from 2016 to 2022, was whisked away to the ICC in The Hague after his arrest on March 11, over an ICC warrant, just as he landed at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) after a visit to Hong Kong, a special administrative region under China. 

Talk was rife after his arrest that Duterte had tried to seek “asylum” in Beijing. Close Duterte aides have denied that the former president sought asylum. Malacañang Palace has said that it has no knowledge of a supposed asylum request. 

Reacting to Philippine news reports that Duterte sought asylum in China but was rejected, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said on March 24: “We have never received the so-called application for asylum to the Chinese government from former president Rodrigo Duterte or his family.” 

China does not have a national asylum law or system, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) noted in a March 2018 submission for the Universal Periodic Review. Instead, it’s the UNHCR that conducts “refugee status determination under its mandate for individual asylum-seekers.” Once the UNHCR determines refugee status, that is then communicated to Chinese officials. 

“Those asylum seekers who are recognised as refugees receive a refugee certificate issued by UNHCR. They are allowed to stay temporarily in China until UNHCR finds a durable solution for them, usually resettlement in a third country as China does not allow them to settle locally.  They have no right to work, and rely on UNHCR to provide assistance in terms of food, accommodation, health care and education. Those who are found not to have a legitimate ground to stay in China are considered to be illegal immigrants,” wrote Lili Song in an article for the Forced Migration Review. 

But would Duterte even have considered the UNHCR route? Was the former president able to even reach the right people in Beijing, should he even have thought of seeking refuge there?

It’s been a swift and dramatic turn of events for Duterte, the first former Philippine head of state and Asian leader to be detained in The Hague. 

On March 11, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning characterized Duterte’s arrest as “an important sudden incident.”

“China has noted the news and is closely following how this might develop. I would like to reiterate China’s consistent view that the International Criminal Court should strictly follow the principle of complementarity, exercise its functions and powers prudently in accordance with the law and prevent politicization or double standards,” she added.

Up until March 24, Beijing had kept mum about the arrest and Duterte’s subsequent transfer to the ICC. The Chinese embassy in Manila had also made no comment, despite requests from Philippine media. – Rappler.com