Beijing has denied media reports that it rejected an asylum request from former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte, with the foreign ministry on Monday saying no application had been received from Duterte or his family.
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Philippine news agencies, citing an anonymous source, reported last week that Duterte had been rejected from obtaining asylum in China before he was arrested in Manila on an International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant on March 11.
“China has never received any so-called application from former president Duterte and his family to seek asylum from the Chinese government,” foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun told reporters on Monday.
“Regarding some so-called informed sources that are made out of nothing or have ulterior motives, I hope that media friends will carefully identify and not believe them easily.”
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Former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte arrested under ICC warrant
Former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte arrested under ICC warrant
The ICC issued an arrest warrant for Duterte on March 7 for crimes against humanity over alleged extrajudicial killings that occurred from 2011 to 2019 as a result of the former president’s war on drugs campaign.
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According to official police statistics, more than 6,000 Filipinos were killed as a result of the campaign. But human rights groups in the Philippines estimate that the number is much larger, according to Human Rights Watch.