Back Hitler, bash Mao: the tweets of Philippine foreign secretary Teddy Locsin make Trump look diplomatic
- Foreign secretary Teodoro ‘Teddy Boy’ Locsin Jr is a key figure in Rodrigo Duterte’s ‘pivot’ from the United States to China
- But as his Twitter feed shows, the country’s top diplomat is not one for diplomacy
He called an archbishop a “moron in a white mu-mu”, and addressed the vice-president as “hey, stupid”. He messaged a reporter, “did you get my f*** you?” And in Berlin last year he refused to take back statements endorsing Hitler and the Holocaust.
“Compared to other [foreign secretaries], he’s more aggressive in his tone, in language, maybe in his ideas,” said retired ambassador Lauro Baja, who was twice president of the United Nations Security Council.
Locsin swept back into the news this month when he confronted a small group of militant protesters outside the foreign affairs headquarters who were protesting against sending Filipino soldiers to the Middle East. An apoplectic Locsin waded in, yelling at them, and when they ignored him, making faces and inviting them to beat him up.