Wang Yi's trip marks the beginning of Locsin in the Philippines as DFA leader

Hot links. Philippine Foreign Minister Teodoro Locsin Jr. shakes hands with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi at the Asia-Europe Summit meeting that has just ended in Brussels. Photo of Locsin's Twitter account

MANILA, Philippines – Foreign Minister Teodoro "Teddyboy" Locsin Jr., newly appointed, has set to work in his home country, the Philippines, welcoming the most important of his guests: the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

Wang's visit from Sunday, October 28 to Sunday, October 29 marks the beginning of Locsin in the Philippines as Secretary of Foreign Affairs.

Of course, at the recent Asia-Europe meeting in Brussels, Locsin had the courage to make a speech and, on the sidelines, bilateral talks with the Australian Foreign Minister, Marise Payne, the Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Péter Szijjártó and the Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte.

But his meeting with Wang will be his first major public engagement in the Philippines.

On Monday, Locsin and Wang will hold a bilateral meeting at the Marco Polo Hotel, in the hometown of President Rodrigo Duterte, in Davao City.

They "will also attend the signing of bilateral agreements on infrastructure, law enforcement and humanitarian assistance", said the Foreign Ministry (FDFA) in a statement on Saturday, October 27th.

What will Locsin say? How will he behave? How is he, a former media personality, responding to Philippine media questions?

In addition to the words and actions of Wang, they will be part of the highlights of the second official visit of the Chinese Foreign Minister to the Philippines from Sunday to Monday.

First meeting with Wang

In the FDFA statement Saturday, Mr Locsin said that he was eager to welcome Wang. (READ: Wang Yi: China's foreign minister who once raided PH's visits)

The FDFA said it would be the second time that Mr Locsin would meet Wang since he became head of the DFA for two weeks. Locsin and Wang "met on the sidelines of the Asia-Europe meeting (ASEM) in Brussels last week".

Locsin "also recalled the kindness of Foreign Minister Wang when he received it, and then Foreign Secretary Alan Peter S. Cayetano at the United Nations Security Council Hall during the 72nd session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York last year ".

After Locsin was sworn in as head of DFAA on October 17, Wang beat his US counterpart, Michael Pompeo, to congratulate Locsin for the first time. Wang congratulated Locsin in a statement on October 18, while Pompeo called to congratulate him on October 25.

Locsin "thanked Foreign Minister Wang for congratulating him" after Duterte was named the best diplomat in Manila, the FDFA announced on Saturday.

Surprise

Before becoming head of the FDFA, Locsin was Permanent Representative of the Philippines to the United Nations.

The appointment of Locsin surprised the country after Cayetano's unexpected resignation as Foreign Secretary. Politician turned diplomat, Cayetano resigned from his post of representative of the 1st district of Taguig-Pateros.

At a press conference on October 12, Duterte announced for the first time that he had proposed the post of DFA chief in Locsin. Five days later, on October 17, Locsin was found in Malacañang taking an oath before Duterte.

Locsin then went directly to Brussels to participate in the 12th Asia-Europe Summit, which was held from 18 to 19 October.

Locsin delivered a speech on "inclusive and sustainable economic growth".

Former speechwriter of former President Corazon Aquino, former newspaper editor and columnist, and former TV host who is most recently remembered for his ANC segment "Teditorial" was in his element in Brussels.

"The defense of law-abiding citizens against the violence of unlawful elements, especially organized crime and terrorism, is the determining role of a state," Locsin said in his speech.

"The failure of a state's responsibility to protect law-abiding laws against the lawless is at the root of the refugee crisis in the Mediterranean." But to avoid the stigma of severely, states fall into passivity or go forward with complicity in dealing with anarchy with as in the fight against cartels of drug trafficking and human beings.We do not subscribe to this approach ", he added.

On migration, Mr Locsin said that in December, "we are taking the road to Marrakech for the official adoption of the Global Compact on Migration".

"Not a charter of rights nor a scale of obligations imposed, it is a universal commitment to decency abroad at the doors and abroad comes to settle in the middle of we – for the security that some of us can offer, and always for love and understand that Christ enjoins, when time is up, to call this stranger our neighbor. " – Rappler.com