Marcos meets Blinken in Philippines amid US-China crisis

By JIM GOMEZ
Associated Press

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has met U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Manila. Blinken is the highest ranking American official to visit the Philippines since Marcos Jr. took office, although the brief meeting on Saturday came at a delicate time as ties between Washington and Beijing have rapidly plummeted to their worst level in years. There was no live broadcast of the mid-morning visit by Blinken at the presidential palace in Manila on the state-run TV network and only a few Manila-based journalists were allowed in a pool coverage of the event. The presidential office later released photographs, showing Marcos Jr. greeting Blinken with a handshake and later the two huddled in a meeting with their officials.