Locsin apologizes to China over tweets

MANILA, Philippines — Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. on Sunday apologized to China and its ambassador to the Philippines for his “burnt rice” post on Twitter that referred to the late Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong.

“My profound apologies to the People’s Republic of China, the Communist Party responsible for its unprecedented achievements and Amb. Zhao (Jianhua), for using the Great Helmsman’s name in vain. All this revisionism makes me – as the first defender of ‘Red China’ – forget my admiration,” Locsin said.

“Great Helmsman” is one of Mao’s monikers.

On Sept. 30, Locsin, known for his colorful words, called the People’s Republic of China’s founder “Mao Che ‘Tutung,’” which means burnt rice in the Filipino language, as he suggested to move on from the philosophies of Mao and Vladimir Lenin.

“Move on from Lenin’s WHAT IS TO BE DONE and from MAO CHE TUTUNG THOUGHT (I love tutung.) There’s been Althuser since, and others. For God’s sake: READ. Marxism as a philosophy ‘remains to be’ (as the baduy like to say) the one with the strongest explanatory power,” he tweeted.

The foreign affairs chief has been firing off tweets critical of Mao in the past two weeks.

In one tweet, Locsin commented about Dutch-born historian Frank Dikötter’s book on China before the country’s communist rule under Mao, which he described as a “horrifying long, long period of Chinese history.”

In another tweet, Locsin again mentioned Mao when he said presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo won in accepting left-leaning groups’ challenge for him to commute and use public transport to Malacañang.