A confrontation between Chinese the Coast Guard and Philippines Coast Guard vessels in a disputed area of the South China Sea provoked a series of public remonstrances from Philippine officials, punctuated by a profane message from the island nation’s top diplomat.
“China, my friend, how politely can I put it? Let me see… O…GET THE F— OUT,” Philippine Foreign Secretary Teodoro Locsin tweeted late Sunday. “What are you doing to our friendship? You. Not us. We’re trying. You.”
Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has maintained a warm and conciliatory posture toward the Chinese Communist Party in recent years, to the discomfort of U.S. strategists in Washington. Yet, Beijing has adopted an aggressive stance in prosecuting its claim to vast swathes of the South China Sea, including areas that an international tribunal ruled belong to the Philippines — but Chinese officials have ignored this ruling and, according to Locsin’s team, harassed Philippine vessels in the area.
“The Department of Foreign Affairs has protested the shadowing, blocking, dangerous maneuver, and radio challenges by the Chinese Coast Guard (CCG) of Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) vessels conducting legitimate maritime patrols and training exercises in the vicinity of Bajo de Masinloc on 24 to 25 April 2021,” the Department of Foreign Affairs, which Locsin leads, said Monday in a public announcement.
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“China has no law enforcement rights in these areas,” the statement added. “The presence of Chinese Coast Guard vessels in the Philippines’ territorial waters of Pag-asa Islands and Bajo de Masinloc, and exclusive economic zone, raises serious concern.”
The verbal fusillade could signal a shift in Duterte’s attitude regarding disputes with China after years of courting investment and favors from Chinese General Secretary Xi Jinping.
“The president himself might not be echoing these statements from his Cabinet, but he also isn’t stopping them, which is telling,” said Center for Strategic and International Studies senior fellow Gregory Poling, an expert in Southeast Asia security issues and director of the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative. “After five years of shelving the South China Sea issue and deferring to Beijing on all things, Manila has received neither the influx of promised Chinese aid and investment nor any de-escalation in the South China Sea.”
Locsin tweeted Monday that this latest Coast Guard incident “snapped [his] patience,” an apparent explanation for an outburst that that was colorful even by his famously brash standards.
“You’re like an ugly oaf forcing your attentions on a handsome guy who wants to be a friend; not to father a Chinese province,” he wrote Sunday evening. “He doesn’t have a uterus. If he tried to give birth to a Chinese province it would be a ball of crap at best and the end of the regime. What is it so hard to understand about Duterte’s UN declaration that the Arbitral Award made all maritime features Philippines; no one else’s?”
China, my friend, how politely can I put it? Let me see… O…GET THE FUCK OUT. What are you doing to our friendship? You. Not us. We’re trying. You. You’re like an ugly oaf forcing your attentions on a handsome guy who wants to be a friend; not to father a Chinese province … https://t.co/KTv1TOQvN7
— Teddy Locsin Jr. (@teddyboylocsin) May 3, 2021
The structure of Locsin’s tweet creates some ambiguity about whether he meant to say that the Chinese Communist regime would be shaken by any prospective attempt to make Manila a vassal state, or if he meant that Duterte’s government would fall. In any case, the outburst suggests that either China escalated its provocative behavior or that Manila is proving to be less tolerant of the abuses it has borne in relative silence in recent years.
“It wouldn’t be shocking to me if the Chinese have been pushing the Philippines quite hard, and some in the [Philippines] government felt that this was too far, and it was necessary to start being a little bit more active in public about pushing back,” the American Enterprise Institute’s Zack Cooper said.
American strategists regard the Philippines as a crucial link in a chain of allies through the Indo-Pacific, in part because the archipelago’s geographic location makes it valuable in any future regional conflict with China. With that in mind, Duterte’s foreign policy positions have troubled U.S. officials as he has threatened to scrap key military agreements with the Pentagon while inviting investment from Chinese companies.
“Duterte has his views, which are strongly held, but others in the Philippines system are much more skeptical of Beijing. So I think, over the long term, that means that the U.S. is in a better position than we have been,” Cooper said. “I don’t think a lot’s going to change in the next year. I think we’re still waiting until Duterte leaves office.”
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For now, at least, Locsin doesn’t feel obliged to hold his rhetorical fire. “The frustration in the Philippine government with China’s behavior is palpable,” Poling said. “With just a year left in his presidency, and a legacy to worry about, my read is Duterte is just tired of fighting the tide of public and official position on this. He’s unshackled the Cabinet and bureaucracy, and they are venting their frustrations.”
