Ex-Filipino diplomat says he was barred entry to Hong Kong
Published on: Saturday, June 22, 2019
MANILA: A former Philippine foreign secretary who accused in court Chinese President Xi Jinping of crimes against humanity said he was barred from entering Hong Kong on Friday and held at the airport for hours.Former Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario told The Associated Press by telephone that he flew to Hong Kong for a business meeting but was blocked by immigration officers from entering.
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Del Rosario said he was held at an airport immigration lounge for about six hours before being told that he was denied entry without any explanation and put on a Cathay Pacific flight back to Manila. A Hong Kong-based Filipino consular officer assisted him at the airport, he said.
“It’s clearly harassment,” the 79-year-old del Rosario said from the plane.
He added that the way Hong Kong authorities mistreated him was a violation of Vienna Convention, an international treaty that specifies the privileges of diplomats to carry out their work without fear of coercion by a host country. Immigration personnel cited an unspecified case as the reason for denying entry, del Rosario said.
“I keep reminding them that I’m traveling on a diplomatic passport and according to the Vienna Convention, they have no right to hold me,” del Rosario said.
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Last month, former Philippine Supreme Court justice and top anti-graft prosecutor Conchita Carpio-Morales said she was barred from entering Hong Kong for a vacation with her family and held for about four hours before she was ordered to take a flight back to Manila. Hong Kong airport and immigration officials later told her there was a mistake and that she could proceed with her trip to Hong Kong, but she and her family had already decided to return home.
Del Rosario and Carpio-Morales took the bold step of filing a complaint before the International Criminal Court against Xi and other Chinese officials over Beijing’s assertive actions in the disputed South China Sea, which they say deprived thousands of Filipino fishermen of their livelihoods and destroyed the environment.
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They accused Xi and other Chinese officials of turning seven disputed reefs into man-made islands, causing extensive environmental damage, and of blocking large numbers of fishermen, including about 320,000 Filipinos, from their fishing grounds.
Chinese Ambassador Zhao Jianhua in Manila called the complaint a “fabrication.” Chinese officials also raised their concern over the complaint in a meeting with Philippine officials in April, saying the case is “affecting the prestige of our leader,” a Philippine official told the AP on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the issue publicly.
When del Rosario was foreign secretary, he also spearheaded the filing of an arbitration case to challenge the legal basis of China’s sweeping territorial claims in the South China Sea on historical grounds. The Philippine move was sparked by a standoff between Filipino and Chinese ships in 2013 in the disputed Scarborough Shoal, which Beijing later effectively seized.
An international arbitration panel invalidated China’s territorial claims in a 2016 ruling and upheld the Philippines’ right to exploit marine resources, including potential undersea oil and gas deposits, in its exclusive economic zone, a stretch of coastal waters. China has ignored and defied the arbitration decision.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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