Manila and Taipei, facing PLA confrontations, may need to depend less on the US and appeal to Trump’s transactional nature, analysts say.

Latest discussions came days after the Philippines accused China of encroaching on its exclusive economic zone near Scarborough Shoal.

Donald Trump’s return to the White House will test Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr’s political strength on the home front and the global stage.

MANILA: Senator Marco Rubio, US President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the State Department, said China should “stop messing around” with the Philippines and Taiwan, noting that its “deeply destabilising” actions in the region are compelling the US to “counteract.

Tensions between Beijing and Manila have intensified in recent months concerning the South China Sea, a region spanning 3.5 million square kilometers (1.35 million square miles) through which an estimated $11.3 billion in global trade passes annually, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

The latest news from the South China Sea was that the Philippine Navy was holding exercises around Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal. This area has become a hotly-contested area between the Philippines and China.

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines accused China on Tuesday of intimidating its fishermen at a disputed South China Sea shoal, and normalizing an “illegal presence,” after Beijing sent its largest coast guard vessel into Manila’s maritime zone.

Officials from the Philippines and China have held talks on the disputed South China Sea. Manila expressed "serious concern" over Beijing's deployment of its largest coast guard ship in Philippine waters.

Beijing and Manila have agreed to continue talks on settling their territorial differences despite Philippine protests about the presence of a Chinese "monster ship" near the contested Scarborough Shoal.

The Philippines used its latest maritime talks with China to directly condemn the rotating fleet of Chinese Coast Guard vessels patrolling unusually close to Zambales since early January.

The Philippine navy said on Friday its ships were holding drills near a contested shoal in the South China Sea, a day after Manila and Beijing agreed to seek common ground and find ways to cooperate despite ongoing disputes.