MANILA, Philippines — Western countries are responsible for "tearing down" the reputation of Myanmar's toppled leader Aung San Suu Kyi, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr. said Thursday.
Suu Kyi, a 1991 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, was arrested with other senior officials after Myanmar's military declared a one-year state of emergency last Monday.
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"I pour scorn on the Western world for destroying Aung San Suu Kyi and making her a victim of the military," Locsin told the Senate foreign affairs committee.
Also cleared up: wait and see attitude on Myanmar is my call not Duterte's who'd otherwise blow his top for a personal friend, Suu Kyi. You got a problem with that, see me. Meanwhile I will not join the West which destroyed Suu Kyi and left her defenseless before the Army. https://t.co/XcVcBApCxO
— Teddy Locsin Jr. (@teddyboylocsin) February 4, 2021
The Philippines' top diplomat stressed that he will not listen to any opinion of a white man on the issue.
Myanmar's leader has lost Western support as she had stayed silent on the atrocities against Rohingya Muslims.
Working with powers
"My job is to try to put her back... the last people I would listen to is a white face on this issue," Locsin said.
To put Suu Kyi back in power, Locsin said he would work with other powers, such as China and India.
"Forget the United States. We talk to China, we talk to India, we say we can go back to the status quo and we can go back and put the mother of Burmese democracy back there," the secretary said, reiterating that he will not work with Western countries on this issue.
"I am angry because I met that woman," he added.
Locsin also recalled how he advised Suu Kyi to work with the army and warned her to be careful of Western countries.
"The West destroyed Syria, the West destroyed Libya because they are hungry for oil. The West is hungry for the gas and oil of Burma (Myanmar)," Locsin said.
Earlier this week, Locsin told presidential spokesperson Harry Roque to "lay off foreign affairs" after saying that the the Myanmar coup was “an internal matter that we will not meddle with."
The Department of Foreign Affairs later on released a statement saying that the government is "especially concerned" with the safety of Suu Kyi.
"Myanmar has made substantial and important strides toward democratization in recent years," the DFA said.
Meanwhile, the Associated of Southeast Asian Nations called for "dialogue, reconciliation and the return to normalcy" in Myanmar as other member states closely follow the developments in the country.
"We recall the purposes and the principles enshrined in the ASEAN Charter, including, the adherence to the principles of democracy, the rule of law and good governance, respect for and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms," the ASEAN said in a statement.