The Chinese government wants to take custody of two nationals implicated in a shooting incident in a Cebu City restaurant on Wednesday which killed two diplomats and injured Consul General Song Ronghua.
Police Chief Superintendent Prudencio Bañas, director of the police office in Central Visayas, said the Chinese embassy is invoking the right to immunity of suspects Li Qing Liang and his wife Gou Jing.
Bañas said that the governments of the Philippines and China have a special agreement that allows the two Chinese nationals to invoke their immunity from criminal prosecution.
“We will be coordinating with DFA (Department of Foreign Affairs) as how we can go about the process of turning them (Jing and Liang) over to the Chinese government,” he said.
Bañas met with two officials from the Chinese embassy in a closed door meeting held at the Cebu City Police Office this morning.
The meeting which started about 9 a.m. lasted for two hours.
In an interview after the meeting, Bañas clarified that police did not arrest Jing and Liang while at the Chinese Consulate office on Wednesday afternoon.
The couple was merely invited to CCPO for questioning.
Banas said that since the consulate office is under Chinese territory, police cannot implement the arrest of any of its diplomats.