China on Monday said it had not received any application for asylum from Philippines’ former president Rodrigo Duterte, regarded as a close ally of Beijing, who was arrested after his visit to Hong Kong. Duterte was arrested on March 11 at Manila’s main airport and deported to The Hague for trial by the International Criminal Court (ICC) over the allegations of serious human rights violations, including sanctioning the killings of drug dealers as part of his war against drugs. Asked about reports from the Philippines that Duterte sought asylum in China before his arrest, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun told a media briefing here that the Chinese government had never received any so-called asylum application from Duterte or his family. “Let me point out in particular that Duterte’s visit to Hong Kong was a private vacation trip. We have never received the so-called application for asylum to the Chinese government from former president Rodrigo Duterte or his family,” Guo said. “We hope people from the media can be careful about the so-called “information from sources,” either unfounded or ill-motivated, and do not easily believe what they hear,” he said.
