Potty mouth diplomacy is anything but diplomatic

Telling China to “get the f*** out” is hardly the most diplomatic of messages.

But whether he knew it or not, Philippines’ foreign minister Teddy Locsin Jr ’s Twitter message earlier this week complaining about Beijing’s actions in the South China Sea carried on a fine tradition of anger and insult between countries. 

It turns out the world of diplomacy can be anything but diplomatic.

Mr Locsin’s message – basically a potty-mouthed version of our very own Gavin Williamson’s rather feeble “go away and shut up” to Russia in 2018 – might have caused an eyebrow to be raised, not least in Beijing, but it is unlikely his boss would be too bothered.

President Rodrigo Duterte used the same language to berate the UN for failing to find peace in the Middle East. Duterte also reserved the f-word for Singapore, all of it, before claiming it was “a garrison pretending to be a country”.

For good measure, Duterte has also called both the Pope and Barack Obama “a son of a whore”, though he (sort of) apologised to the US president in case his words came across “a personal attack”. An unimpressed White House got its own back by cancelling a meeting between the leaders. The Pope’s crime for being verbally attacked was for the offence of causing traffic chaos in Manila when he visited.

Although there is a well-established code of diplomatic language, sometimes politicians find it hard to stick to the rules.

President Reagan famously called Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi “Mad Dog”. Uruguay’s President Jose Mujica called his neighbouring counterpart, Argentina’s Cristina Kirchner, an “old hag”, and Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe called Desmond Tutu, a man who has rarely offended anyone, an “evil and embittered little bishop”.

Napoleon also liked to swear at diplomats, calling one of his own envoys “a s*** in a silk stocking”. 

Even in our Trumpian, post-polite age – remember “Rocket Man” – it is still rare for politicians to resort to language as coarse as Mr Locsin’s, at least in public, and especially about an emerging superpower.

But when they do, his outburst is proof that it is refreshing when the mask slips. 

Yours

David Harding

International editor