US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and his Philippine counterpart, Enrique Manalo, discussed “coordination on addressing China’s destabilizing actions in the South China Sea” and increased economic cooperation in a meeting in Munich on Friday,

The Philippine foreign ministry said on Friday it was "concerned" over what it described as "unsafe manoeuvres" and the use of flares by a Chinese air force plane against an Australian Air Force aircraft in the South China Sea.

It's "absurd and extremely dangerous" for the Philippines to worsen the South China Sea issue with the deployment of the Typhon intermediate-range missile system by the United States in the country, a spokesman for China's Ministry of National Defense said on Friday.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Philippine Foreign Minister Enrique Manalo, in a meeting in Munich on Friday (Feb 14), discussed bilateral coordination in the South China Sea and increasing economic cooperation,

China accused Australia on Friday of deliberately provoking it with a maritime patrol in the disputed South China Sea this week, saying the latter was spreading "false narratives", though Australia maintained its action adhered to international law.

Naval and air force units of the US, Canada and the Philippines conducted joint drills in the South China Sea amid growing tensions in the region with China, local media reported Thursday.

Canada and the Philippines are in the final stages of negotiating a key defense pact that would allow their forces to hold larger military drills in the South China Sea, where Ottawa has rejected China’s “provocative and unlawful actions,

Australia spotted three Chinese warships sailing near its coast as Beijing accused Canberra of sending a spy plane into its "territorial airspace" over the contested South China Sea. Newsweek has contacted the Australian and Chinese militaries for comment by email.

China in turn accused the Australian plane of "deliberately" intruding into airspace over the disputed Paracel Islands,