Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. has likened his “friend” China to an ugly “oaf” who keeps on forcing its way into Philippine waters.
Locsin made this comment via Twitter shortly after the Philippines announced that it has protested the hostile acts exhibited by the Chinese Coast Guard against Philippine Coast Guard vessels in Bajo de Masinloc on April 24-25, 2021.
“China, my friend, how politely can I put it? Let me see... O... Get the f__k 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,” the DFA secretary said in a tweet.
The Oxford dictionary defines the word ‘oaf’ as a noun referring to a stupid, unpleasant, or awkward person.
Locsin likewise expressed his exasperation over China’s difficulty to comprehend the position taken by President Duterte before the United Nations concerning the July 2016 ruling of the Arbitral Tribunal in The Hague.
‘What is so hard to understand about Duterte’s UN declaration that the Arbitral Award made all maritime features Philippines; no one else’s?" he asked.
He was referring to the President’s speech before the UN General Assembly virtual meeting in September 2020 where Duterte, for the first time since he assumed office in 2016, invoked the Philippine arbitration victory against China’s excessive claims in the South China Sea or the West Philippine Sea.
“The award is now part of international law, beyond compromise and beyond the reach of passing governments to dilute, diminish or abandon,” Duterte said in his pre-recorded remarks.
Locsin maintained that the solution to the persistent problem in the West Philippine Sea lies entirely with China when it starts listening to itself and “behaving."
“What do you call it when you talk to yourself? A problem. Yet you don't even listen to yourself tell another not to do what you are doing? Not insoluble; it lies entirely with you to stop making it a problem by behaving as you’re telling another to do since you’re the one wrong,” the country’s top diplomat said.