Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has arrived in the Philippines to further boost an alliance in the face of China’s growing assertiveness in the region and he plans to symbolically board a Japan-built Philippine patrol ship that has repeatedly clashed with the Chinese coast guard.

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba held talks on Tuesday with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, in a move to advance security and economic ties between two of Washington's closest Asian allies amid rising Indo-Pacific tensions.

United by a shared unease about China’s growing maritime assertiveness, Manila and Tokyo have pledged to build on the substantial advances of recent years.

China and the Philippines have each unfurled their national flags on tiny sandbars in the South China Sea, staking competing sovereignty claims in strategic waters seen as a potential flashpoint for global conflict.

BEIJING (AP) — China says six Filipinos landed on a tiny outcropping that both countries claim in the South China Sea, days after photos emerged of Chinese coast guard officers displaying a Chinese flag on the same group of sandbars.

The standoff over Sandy Cay, which lies close to military outposts built by both Beijing and Manila, was the latest between the two nations.