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In Conversation with Philippine Foreign Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin Jr.
This recording features a conversation with Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin Jr., appointed as Secretary of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of the Philippines by President Rodrigo Duterte in 2018.
Lowy Institute Southeast Asia Program Director Ben Bland spoke with Secretary Locsin about a range of issues including the impact of US–China competition on the region, the challenges of managing COVID-19 in a large, globally connected nation, and the trajectory of Australia–Philippines relations.
Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin Jr. is a lawyer by profession and a journalist by trade. He holds a Master of Laws from Harvard Law School, and was previously publisher, editorial writer, and co-anchor at several leading Philippine media organisations. He also served as a lecturer at the US National Defense College. In government, he previously served as legal counsel and speechwriter to President Corazon Aquino, and speechwriter to Presidents Joseph Estrada and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. He was elected to the Philippine House of Representatives from 2001 to 2010.
Ben Bland is the Director of the Southeast Asia Program at the Lowy Institute. He is the author of Man of Contradictions: Joko Widodo and the Struggle to Remake Indonesia and Generation HK: Seeking Identity in China's Shadow. He was previously an award-winning foreign correspondent for the Financial Times, based in Jakarta, Hanoi and Hong Kong.
Featuring
Ben Bland
Ben Bland is the director of the Asia-Pacific program at Chatham House.