Editor’s note: This article was updated to include the video fact check.
Manila City Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso, who is running for president in the May 2022 elections, falsely claimed that no member state of the International Criminal Court (ICC) stood up for the 2016 arbitral award on the South China Sea dispute that invalidated China’s expansive claims in the maritime area.
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Among Southeast Asian countries, Indonesia — also a signatory of the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the ICC — cited the 2016 ruling in a May 2020 diplomatic letter to the UN in rebuffing China’s nine-dash line claim in the South China Sea based on “historic rights.” See Indonesia’s new diplomatic bombshell against Chinese expansionism in the South China Sea
Although not a member of the ICC unlike the remaining G7 members, the U.S. has also expressed support for the ruling. In a statement in July, U.S. State Secretary Anthony Blinken called on China to abide by international law, “cease its provocative behavior,” and reassure the international community of its commitment to the “rules-based maritime order.”
Blinken reiterated that an armed attack on Philippine vessels or aircraft in the South China Sea will trigger the 70-year-old Mutual Defense Treaty between the U.S and the Philippines.
The South China Sea arbitral award, issued in July 2016, held that China’s nine-dash line claim has “no legal basis” and declared certain maritime features, like the Ayungin (Second Thomas) Shoal, to be within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone. See FACT CHECK: Pro-Duterte blogger makes multiple inaccurate claims on West Philippine Sea, arbitral ruling
China, which refused to participate in the arbitration proceedings held at the Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration, has since maintained that it will never recognize the decision, describing it as a “piece of waste paper.” See FACT CHECK: PH did not ‘handpick’ entire panel in South China Sea arbitration case
The ICC, also based in The Hague, Netherlands, became operational in 2002 and was established to investigate and put on trial individuals “charged with the gravest crimes of concern to the international community;” namely, genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and aggression. It does not arbitrate maritime or territorial disputes between states, nor is it mandated to enforce arbitral rulings.
The Philippines withdrew from the ICC in March 2018 after then-ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda launched a preliminary examination into thousands of deaths under Duterte’s drug war. The withdrawal officially took effect in March 2019. See FACT CHECK: Duterte, Panelo spew three false claims about ICC
