China Hits Back at Blinken

China has hit back after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. and the Philippines share concern over China’s “repeated violations of international law” in South China Sea. Blinken’s statement of support for the U.S.-Philippine Mutual Defense Treaty (MDT) while in the Southeast country Tuesday amounted to a “thinly veiled threat,” China’s embassy in Manila said. Blinken’s trip to the Philippines earlier this week came amid heightened tensions between the Philippines and China. The latter is deploying its coast guard and paramilitary forces to assert Beijing’s claims in the disputed sea. China asserts control over most of the…