The Philippines and Australia are willing to deepen their defense ties through an agreement, the two nations' defense chiefs said Friday.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. says his country will inevitably be drawn “kicking and screaming” in any war over Taiwan due to its proximity and the presence of large numbers of Filipino workers on the self-ruled island,

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.

BEIJING (Reuters) -China accused the Philippines on Friday of "playing with fire" after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said the Southeast Asian nation would be drawn into any conflict between China and the United States over Taiwan.

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.

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.