Teodoro Locsin lauds China for Asian economic progress

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines’ top diplomat praised yesterday the Chinese Communist Party for steering the Asian giant to economic progress and for initiating regional development “not by stepping on others” but by helping other nations achieve their goals.

“It was the work of the Chinese people whose tireless energy and inventiveness had the benefit of direction and focus through the Communist Party. There is no propulsion as strong as people power; but it demands the direction of a single hand, as Thomas Jefferson said. That hand is absent in Western democracy,” Locsin said at a joint press briefing with Chinese state councilor and foreign affairs minister Wang Yi in Beijing.

Locsin is in China on an official visit from March 18 to 21 upon the invitation of his counterpart.

“That direction the Communist Party has supplied; no other institution anywhere in the world could do it. The Party’s repeated self-criticism and self-reformation, especially against the corrosive effect of corruption on legitimacy, have assured the Party’s continuing credibility, vibrancy and relevance as China’s driving force,” Locsin said. “There is no substitute for it: it is democracy married to reason and animated by self-sacrifice.”

He said the mutual respect and friendship between President Duterte and President Xi Jinping have “laid the foundation of a revitalized relationship between the Philippines and China, which have always been friends and never enemies; resisting attempts by the Great Powers in the previous century to use our proximity against each other rather than for each other’s benefit.”

Locsin said he was proud to say that he was part of efforts to bring the Philippines and China closer.

Locsin and Wang discussed during their meeting what the two countries have accomplished, the differences Manila and Beijing have yet to resolve and the need to set them aside as they pursue more enriching and advantageous common goals.

“We are happy that our friendship has grown from strength to strength,” Locsin said.

“You have our assurance that the Philippines will look out for your people in my country as I have seen China look out for our people in yours,” he added.

In February, Locsin said Chinese workers in the Philippines were not grabbing jobs from Filipinos.

The Chinese embassy in Manila denied China would retaliate if its nationals illegally working in the Philippines would be deported.