The Philippine defense chief condemned China’s deployment of a swarm of armed coast guard forces, backed by a helicopter and a drone, closer to the Philippines’ military outpost in a fiercely disputed atoll in the South China Sea.

The Philippines and Australia are willing to deepen their defense ties through a cooperation agreement, the two nations’ defense chiefs said Friday, amid their largest joint military exercises to date, and in response to China’s “worrying ...

Philippine military says there is an increase in Chinese vessels, including coastguard and militia ships, near shoal.

China has deployed coast guard ships and several militia vessels close to the wreck of a long-grounded Philippine military ship in a disputed South China Sea shoal, where Filipino forces have been put on alert.

A sharp escalation in military tensions in the South China Sea this week is raising alarm among marine insurers, with the latest standoff between Chinese and Philippine forces – backed by real-time US surveillance – heightening perceptions of war-risk exposure across the region.

Since 2023, Manila has stepped up its pushback against China's expanding presence within its maritime zone, at times leading to clashes and raising concerns an incident could trigger the U.S.–Philippines Mutual Defense Treaty. The tensions have driven the Philippines to pursue closer defense ties with the U.S. and several other countries.

The recent collision involving two Chinese vessels and other developments have led to a risky situation in the South China Sea, analysts say.

Edison Palattao, a 52-year-old fisherman in Aparri, Cagayan, still can’t move on from how the extraction of river sand made their lives miserable. “It really made our lives worse,” he recalled as he blamed the extraction of sand from the Cagayan River as the reason behind the serious decline in fish and aramang catch.