MANILA, Philippines — Deputy Speaker and Batangas Representative Ralph Recto described newly-appointed special envoy to China Teddy Locsin as the kind of diplomat “who can tell you to go to hell in such an elegant way that you’ll look forward with pleasure to making the trip.”
Teddy Locsin was appointed by President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. as the Special Envoy of the President to the People’s Republic of China for Special Concerns, the Presidential Communications Office said on Wednesday.
READ: Bongbong Marcos appoints ex-DFA chief Teddy Locsin special envoy to China
In a statement, Recto said that Locsin will effectively champion the country’s interest without having “to rabble-rouse but to press the reboot button so that the PH-China relations will pivot toward a mutually respecting phase.”
“While he has the command of language that makes him our best weapon in a shouting war, the situation calls for no bullhorn diplomacy, but quiet labor that brings results. But if need be, he can stare down China’s practitioners of wolf diplomacy,” he added.
Locsin, who was the secretary of Foreign Affairs during the time of former president Rodrigo Duterte, is also the concurrent Philippine Ambassador to the United Kingdom.
His appointment came on the heels of China’s recent acts of aggression in the West Philippine Sea (WPS), in line with their assertion that it owns almost all of the areas in the South China Sea, including the WPS, through its nine-dash line. The Philippines challenged this before the Permanent Court of Arbitration, which later invalidated Beijing’s sweeping claim.
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