Former foreign affairs secretary Albert del Rosario is currently being held for questioning at the Hong Kong International Airport when he arrived there at 7:40am. Although the official reason for his questioning has not been disclosed, his lawyer has labeled it “harassment” and there is much speculation that it is in retaliation for his criticism of China.
As a vocal critic of China, Del Rosario led the Philippine government’s team in winning its arbitration case against the Asian superpower at the United Nations-backed Permanent Court of Arbitration in 2016. Along with a group of Filipino fishermen and former ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales, he also filed a complaint against Chinese President Xi Jinping and other high-ranking government officials at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in March.
The Philippines’ former top diplomat was told by Hong Kong immigration officials to stay at a staff lounge after he was questioned.
“Still here. Been half hour wait…now in a staff lounge after answering a few questions. Asked to wait,” he told The Philippine Daily Inquirer at around 8:30am.
At around 9am, del Rosario told ABS-CBN News that he was still waiting for immigration officials’ approval to enter Hong Kong. He is reportedly still there.
According to his lawyer Anne Marie Corominas, del Rosario, a non-executive director of Hong Kong company First Pacific, was in the Chinese special administrative region to attend a meeting.
“This is pure harassment here,” Corominas told cable channel ANC today. “He hasn’t been told of the reason why he has been detained and asked to wait.”
Del Rosario is not the only China critic who has been detained for questioning at Hong Kong’s airport. Former ombudsman Carpio-Morales was also detained at the airport in May, an incident which angered her and led her to vow that she would pursue the ICC case against China.
Corominas said that unlike Morales, del Rosario traveled to Hong Kong using his diplomatic passport, the Philippine Star reported. She said the Hong Kong immigration officials are violating the Vienna Convention because del Rosario has diplomatic immunity.
“He should not be held for an hour and a half,” Corominas said.
Before flying to Hong Kong, del Rosario released a statement to the media today slamming the planned joint probe between China and the Philippines of the West Philippine Sea boat sinking incident. On June 9, a Chinese-owned vessel hit and sunk a Filipino-owned fishing boat. Instead of helping, the Chinese crew left the Filipinos to fend for themselves until a group of Vietnamese fishermen came to their rescue.
Del Rosario said the planned joint probe is “the worse news yet.”
“It redounds to a potential partnership between one party (Philippines who is out to seek the truth) against another party (China, the bully) who is out to suppress it,” his statement said, according to Rappler.
“Can we please not insult the intelligence of our people?” del Rosario added.
In the ICC complaint filed by del Rosario and Morales, officially called a “communication”, they said that President Xi and other officials, in their plan to take over the contested West Philippine Sea, had caused “permanent and devastating environmental damage” to the area. The complaint asserted that China has committed destructive fishing activities in the area and built military infrastructures on the islands.
