Duterte contender for China’s ‘Nobel Peace Prize alternative’

Here’s some news President Rodrigo Duterte’s loyal and dedicated supporters in the Philippines can rejoice over.

Duterte’s in the running for a “peace prize,” given by an institution founded in his favorite country: the People’s Republic of China.

We can imagine the vindication the president’s supporters must feel over this international award, given by an institution in a country with a superb human rights record. The award was founded after the Nobel Peace Prize was given to late human rights activist Liu Xiabo.

Duterte is going up against another exemplary leader: Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, who has ruled his country with authoritarian power, using violence, intimidation, and censorship of the media. Most recently, he successfully dissolved the political opposition ahead of the 2018 elections.

Duterte’s supporters can probably commiserate with Sen’s issues with the media, as they have complained long and loud over the allegedly unfair and biased coverage by local journalists. Y’know, the ones colluding with those pesky foreign correspondents to damage the name of the president and his earnest efforts to clean up drugs in the country.

That campaign has led to the deaths of at least 3,000 people via state-sanctioned police operations, while 3,000 others with links to drugs have been killed by masked vigilantes in the past year. Some human rights organizations put that number as high as 13,000, a number the government says is exaggerated.

Among present and former state leaders who have won the award are late Cuban dictator Fidel Castro (2014); Zimbabwe’s recently deposed president Robert Mugabe (2015); and someone Duterte calls his “idol,” Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. So, y’know, good company.

It’s important to note that the Chinese government has denied any connection with the award and most previous non-Chinese winners did not know about or even accept it, according to the Nikkei Asian Review.

So will it be Hun Sen or Duterte? We’ll find out soon. Exciting times, guys.