China has yet to respond to the call, which includes payment for two damaged boats and the return of rifles seized during the June 17 stand-off The Philippine military chief has reiterated calls for Beijing to compensate for damages and return rifles seized during a violent confrontation in the disputed South China Sea that left a Filipino sailor with a severed thumb.

The Philippine military has opened two weeks of combat drills that will include seizing an island in the disputed South China Sea and likely be frowned upon by China.

China has rapidly expanded its military and has become increasingly assertive in pursuing territorial claims in the South China Sea, which Beijing claims virtually in its entirety.

The Philippines and the European Union have moved beyond general language to explicitly condemn "illegal, coercive, aggressive and dangerous actions" in the South China Sea following high-level talks in Manila on Tuesday,

New images released by the Washington-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies show that Vietnam is laying a runway approximately 2.4km long in the South China Sea and could build two more airstrips.

China’s militarization of the South China Sea (SCS) has established a powerful anti-access/area-denial (A2/AD) network across the region, positioning it to delay or block U.S. intervention in a Taiwan contingency.