“Xi implied that the status quo that existed before the flare up of tensions under the term of Noynoy can still be achieved.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has no other recourse but to junk the obviously politically-motivated case against Chinese President Xi Jinping before the International Criminal Court (ICC) by President Rody Duterte’s critics.

ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda has dismissed the case filed by former President Noynoy Aquino’s Foreign secretary Albert del Rosario and Noynoy’s appointed Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales, saying the international tribunal does not have jurisdiction over it.

The complaint, filed in March 2019, alleged crimes against humanity on Xi for the harassment of Filipino fishermen by Chinese ships and the damage on the maritime environment in Philippine waters as a result of the buildup of structures on the disputed territory.

Curiously, the ICC ruling cited that China is not a state party to the ICC in rejecting the information against Xi.

Since the government had withdrawn from the Rome Statute that created the ICC, the implication may be similar to the suit against Rody over his alleged abuses in the war on drugs. The ICC said it will rule on the case filed by lawyer Jude Sabio, a stooge of coup plotter Antonio Trillanes IV.

The ruling also touched on the territorial debate, which may have bearing on the decision of Rody to set aside the arbitral ruling that supposedly favored the country.

“The Office has concluded that a State’s Exclusive Economic Zone (and continental shelf) cannot be considered to comprise part of its ‘territory’ for the purpose of article 12(2)(a) of the Statute,” according to Bensouda.

Article 12(2)(a) of the Rome Statute said the ICC can exercise jurisdiction “if the crime was committed on board a vessel or aircraft” of the state party, or of the Philippines.

“In the present situation, only the first scenario is potentially applicable,” the ICC ruling said.

“In the Office’s view, the EEZ (and continental shelf) cannot be equated to territory of a State within the meaning of article 12 of the Statute, given that the term ‘territory’ of a State in this provision should be interpreted as being limited to the geographical space over which a State enjoys territorial sovereignty,” according to the ICC.

Those who are claiming that Rody should enforce the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) ruling on a case filed by Noynoy against China should review the ICC decision.

Del Rosario, for instance, said the filing of the case against Xi will encourage the Philippines to sit down with China for the enforcement of the PCA.

“It is only right that the President should emphasize that what China has been telling us about the claim on the nine-dash line is not consistent with the decision of the arbitral tribunal,” Morales said for her part.

The effort against Xi also had the ultimate intent to embarrass Rody before the world by implying that he did not take any action on China’s incursions in the West Philippine Sea (WPS).

The problem in the WPS, nevertheless, was triggered by the incompetence of the administration of Noynoy.

The Chinese reclamation work started as a backlash to the stubborn rejection of Noynoy to engage China in a serious dialogue after several overtures from Beijing.

Xi approached Noynoy in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in Beijing in 2014 when he “expressed hope that both sides will return to previous engagements and constructive engagement and look forward to turning a new page.”

Xi implied that the status quo that existed before the flare up of tensions under the term of Noynoy can still be achieved.

China resented the use of a Philippine Navy battleship, BRP Gregorio del Pilar, which was then newly acquired from the United States, to arrest Chinese fishermen on the disputed Scarborough Shoal in 2012.

The frigate was acquired from the US Coast Guard and its use to round off Chinese poachers happened just as the US government announced its Asia pivot policy in which American military forces were redeployed from the Middle East to Asia mainly to contain China.

The complaint of Morales and Del Rosario seeks to shift the blame on the Chinese response to the bungling actions of Noynoy to Rody whose effort is focused on mending the country’s fractured relations with its neighbor.

The ICC ruling only bolstered the view that Rody did the right thing in strengthening ties with China by retaining a status quo in the maritime dispute.